Teacher's Pet
by Simply Nobody
Summary: In modern-day life at Sleipnir University, Abel is a fantastic student. From being a brother in Beta Omega to being on the Dean's List, he has everything he could have dreamed of. That is, until Dean Bering insists he tutor a very special, albeit rebellious student named Cain, who belongs to his rival fraternity: Alpha Kappa. Tensions quickly grow between the two of them.
1. Abel 1

**Author's Note: This is co-written with a friend of mine: OathKeeper on ArchiveOfOurOwn.**

**Chapter 1**

**Abel**

* * *

It all started on a Tuesday.

To be honest, the Tuesday wasn't even that special. It was the fall semester of my sophomore year, I had just aced my Astronomy quiz, studied for an astrophysics test, and was now eating lunch with my roommate, Ethos. As we ate, though, I checked my e-mail, and had a message from earlier that morning from the dean of my school to visit him after my classes were done. Just that. No other explanation.

"Weird." I muttered, clicking the reply button.

"What's weird?" asked Ethos as he nibbled on a french fry.

"Oh, the dean just wants me to come see him at four."

"Did you get in trouble again?" he mocked, forcing me to smile slightly.

"Very funny." I said, and quickly typed a reply to the dean: 'I will be there, but what is it we need to meet for?'

"Could it be about the party we had last weekend?" Ethos exclaimed worriedly.

"There's never been a problem before…" I responded, "Plus, the police didn't even show up that time. And it was over at Delta Chi, so why would he want to see me about it?"

"Oh, you're right…" he murmured, sipping his Pepsi thoughtfully.

Looking back down at my laptop screen, I noticed that the dean had already replied back to me: 'Thank you, sorry for the short notice. I will explain when we meet.'

I gave a heavy sigh, and closed the laptop.

Despite Ethos' paranoia, I wasn't worried at all about being asked to go and meet with the dean. I had been there multiple times, all for respectable reasons, and I was even on the dean's list of top students, so there was no doubt in my mind that this meeting was for some good news.

But, as I arrived outside his office door at precisely 4pm, just as he asked, and heard screams coming from within, I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach. Was there something wrong with my transcript? Had I accidentally broken a rule? Did something happen between fraternities? My head suddenly felt light, so I sat down on the wooden bench right next to the door, waiting to be called in.

It wasn't even a minute later that the door swung open, and a guy, definitely a student, stormed out. I let out a soft yelp of surprise, and he looked down at me.

"What the hell did you do wrong, Princess?" he mocked. It took me a moment to realize that 'princess' was his way of addressing me.

"Uh… I'm not…"

"Cain, don't be rude," scolded the dean as he joined us out in the hallway, "after all, Abel here is the one who's going to be your peer mentor." Angrily, Cain did a double take at me, and glared back at the dean.

"I told you, Bering, I don't need any of this 'mentoring' bullshit!"

"Calm down, Cain," Mr. Bering commanded. Crossing his arms, Cain kept quiet. "Now, listen here. Your parents left me in charge of helping you here, and that's what I am trying to do."

"I don't need any goddamn mentoring though," Cain grumbled.

"Perhaps not in the subjects you like, no, but in others…"

"Math is fucking stupid and I don't even need it!"

"Yes, you do, Cain!" Bering scolded, "Every class you take here has a purpose. And you should do well in all your classes, even the ones you don't particularly like. In addition, you need to work on your study habits."

"I don't need to fucking study-"

"Then why did you get a C on your Engineering 101 exam when you very well know you could have gotten an A?"

"Wait, you're an Engineering major?" I asked. The two dark-haired men looked over at me, almost as if they had forgotten that I was there.

"Yeah, what of it?" barked Cain. The dean adjusted his tie.

"I'm sorry about that, Abel," he apologized, "I neglected to inform you about what I needed you for."

"Tutoring, right?" I replied, "At least, that's what I got out of your… conversation."

"Yes, you see, Cain here needs a tutor to help him, since he is failing half of his classes."

"Zatknis' ad!" Cain shouted in a different language. Mr. Bering furrowed his eyebrows.

"Language, Cain."

"Look, Princess," Cain growled, turning towards me. "I don't need any help from a nerd like you, okay? You're probably one of Bering's best or something, but believe me when I say that I'm not paying for any of your bullshit 'tutoring', okay?"

"Fine, I'll do it for free," I replied bluntly. Both Cain and the dean gave a look of surprise.

"Are you sure, Abel?" Mr. Bering asked, "I can certainly pay a small fee for you to help Cain, since you don't even have a job or anything right now…"

"It's fine, Dean Bering," I replied, "You and I both know that I get free tuition anyways since my father's a professor here, so tutoring for free is fine with me."

"Listen, you little shit…" Cain threatened, "I don't know who you think you are, but-"

"Cain," interrupted Mr. Bering, "don't be rude." After a moment, Cain finally backed off, an expression of anger still on his face, and stormed off down the hallway in defeat.

"I'll meet you in the library tomorrow at three!" I shouted towards him triumphantly.

I'm pretty sure he flipped me off.

* * *

"What did Sigmund Freud do?" I asked. Ethos, who was laying sprawled across a couch, let out a long groan and covered his face with a pillow.

"Was he the one who wrote 'The Interpretation of Dreams?'" his voice was muffled by the stuffed fabric.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "What was it about?"

"Uhh…" he pondered, staring up at the ceiling, "...was it… psychodynamics?"

"Close," I replied, "psychoanalysis."

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed, perking up off the couch. "It was the first book published in the 20th century, right?"

"Right! Now what is psychoanalysis?" I asked, putting the flash cards down to look at him.

"It's the study of dreams and the subconscious mind."

"Correct!" I said triumphantly. "And that was the last one." With a big grin, Ethos stretched on the couch and yawned.

"Finally!" he replied, "I thought we'd never get through all of those flashcards."

"Well, considering you made 97 of them…" I muttered, earning a chuckle from Ethos.

"And thank you for helping me with every single one of them."

"It's no big deal," I responded.

And really, it wasn't a big deal. Ethos and I always studied together. Almost every night, we would get together in the lounge of our chapter house, help each other with whatever homework needed getting done, and afterwards we would reward ourselves with video games and, sometimes, pizza.

"Which reminds me," he said, putting all his study materials back into his backpack, "what did the dean want to meet with you for?" I could almost feel a headache coming on at the memory of it.

"Ugh, well, it's uhh…" I stuttered, "...it was very…interesting."

"How so?" he asked, leaning in closer to hear.

Reluctantly, and with a tone of disgust, I told him about Cain, about his nasty attitude, and about how Dean Bering was putting me up to the task to try and tutor someone who obviously didn't want to even be tutored in the first place. I imagined it would probably be like trying to give a kid nasty medicine; Cain would probably do everything in his power to make sure I didn't help him.

"I mean, what if he even starts to resort to violence or something?" I wondered, my headache intensifying. Ethos giggled a little.

"I don't think anybody could ever hurt you, Abel."

"Well, when it comes to this guy, I'm just not so sure…" I muttered.

And it was true, I had no clue what was in store for me.

The next morning, it was surprisingly tougher than usual to get out of bed. I woke up groggily, my dreams being interrupted not only by my blaring alarm clock, but also by the sound of Ethos' incredible snoring coming from the top bunk. The 7am light was peeking in through the blinds of our window, and I was pretty sure I could hear the frat across the street blaring some god-awful bagpipe music, as was per their normal Wednesday-morning routine. And, to top it all off, the first thing that came to my mind was the reminder that I would have to deal with Cain and his attitude again today.

I wished to all the gods in the universe that I could just crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

Mustering up all the strength I could, I slid out of bed, ate some cereal, got dressed, and left so I could be on time to my eight-o'clock class.

Throughout the rest of the day, though, as the time drew closer and closer to 3pm, I could feel my anxiety growing. There was no way at all of knowing how Cain would treat the situation. If anything, I assumed he would probably just not show up. It seemed like the most likely scenario, considering I had no way of contacting him if he decided not to meet with me. And in the end, it was the hope of him not coming that gave me enough courage to go to the library and wait.

Sure enough, when I got to the main study area, filled with tables and students typing madly away at their computers and others pouring over their notes, Cain was nowhere to be found. I had, however, arrived a few minutes early, so I picked my favorite table, set my things down, and opened my laptop to pass the time.

As I continued to type away at my computer, though, the minutes only kept passing; 3:05, 3:10, 3:15, 3:20. By then, I knew that my prediction had come true. I gave a heavy sigh, filled with a mixture of relief and disappointment, and began packing up my things.

However, just as I was about to close my computer, someone sat down across from me at the table. Looking up, I knew immediately it was Cain. He rested his combat boots up on the tabletop, and gave a mischievous smirk.

"You're late," I said, glaring at him slightly. He snorted and put his hands behind his head and balancing his chair on the back two legs.

"You're lucky I came at all, Princess," he said with a slight snarl. I stared at him.

"Don't call me 'Princess.'" He put his chair back on all fours and removed his feet from the table. Leaning close to me, he smirked, making eye contact. I could smell whatever cologne he might have been wearing (Or not wearing. He might have just smelled that way all the time.), along with a faint scent of cigarettes.

"I will call you whatever I want to... Goldilocks," he retorted. We stared at each other before I shook my head slightly and mumbled obscenities under my breath. He sat back in his chair, slumping down and stretching his legs out under the table. I felt one of his boots graze the side of my calf and sat up straighter, tucking my feet under my chair. Shutting my computer, I looked at the expanse of table in front of him, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Where're your class materials?" I asked, noticing that he hadn't brought anything but himself to the table, and barely that.

"Didn't think they'd be important," he said with a shrug.

I lifted a hand to my temple and massaged it slightly, closing my eyes. It had been no more that five minutes since he had sat down at the table and I was already feeling a migraine coming on. This was not going to be fun. Letting out a long sigh, I pushed myself away from the table and stood up.

"Don't even think about going anywhere," I said, pointing at him. He raised his hands up in surrender and made an innocent face. Well, as close to innocent as he could get.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Sweetcheeks," he said, grinning. I sighed again and strode over to the computer lab in the corner of the library.

Logging into my e-mail account, I clicked open a message from Dean Bering, thankful that he had sent me a couple of Cain's assignment. Opening the documents, I printed out two copies of each. The bastard better be grateful I have a ridiculous amount of printing credits, I thought to myself. Grabbing the warm papers off the printer, I walked back to the table. Sitting down, I slid one of the papers over to him and smiled sweetly.

"This is your Chemistry 167 lab report worksheet. We're going to work on this first," I said. He scowled at the paper on the table and didn't make a move to touch, let alone read, it. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Would you like a pencil?" He glared at me.

"No. I'm going to write with my fucking blood. Yes, dumbass, I would like a pencil."

I felt his eyes watching me as I leaned down to reach into my bookbag. Unzipping one of the pockets, I pulled out a mechanical pencil. Sitting back up in the chair, I rolled the pencil across the table to him. He stopped it and held it between his fingers. I watched as his eyes skimmed over the paper. I don't believe that he actually read it, but remained silent as he started writing notes in the margins. As he was obviously engrossed in the worksheet, I opened my computer again and resumed working on my research paper for Astronomy.

Ten minutes later, he slammed the pencil down on the table and pushed the paper toward me before leaning back in his seat. I looked up from my computer and shut the lid half way. Pushing it aside, I picked up the lab report. I glanced over the notes he made and read through his analysis of the data he obtained. Having taken the same class the previous year, I knew what the correct answers should be, and everything he had written was spot on. Though his handwriting was sloppy and uneven, I read through the entire three pages. When I was done, I looked at him. He greeted me with a lopsided grin.

"I told you I didn't need a fucking tutor," he retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. I put the paper down and looked at him.

"It seems as though you're just not going to your full potential," I said. He shrugged.

"Frankly, I don't give a rats ass about most of the classes."

"Well, maybe you should start," I replied bluntly.

"And if I don't?" He retorted.

"Then you'll just have to come see me more often, and I know for a fact that neither of us wants that."

"Are you so sure about that, Princess?" he grinned, raising an eyebrow. I felt my cheeks heat up a little at the question, and quickly turned to look away.

"Just… just do the next worksheet," I mumbled, sliding another piece of paper over to him.

* * *

Several days passed, and Saturday finally arrived. For me, the end of the week had been much anticipated, considering I had insisted on tutoring Cain all through Wednesday and Friday, all on top of juggling my own classes.

In reality, it wasn't even the tutoring part that was exhausting for me, but rather the struggle with how to approach improving Cain's grades. Sure, forcing him to do his worksheets right in front of me was effective, but things like that could only make a small dent in his overall class grades. There were labs he had to go to, nighttime exams he had to attend, online quizzes to take, and I would bet my virginity that he wasn't doing any of them.

So, in other words, I had to give him an incentive to care.

"Well fuck me," I muttered. Ethos gave me a confused look.

"What was that, Abel?" he questioned. I froze, realizing that I had accidentally said that out loud.

"Oh, nothing, never mind!" I exclaimed, waving my hands. He and I were supposed to be finishing our online math homework, but I had somehow gotten sidetracked and had only 2 problems finished. I gave a heavy sigh.

"Abel, what did you get for number thirteen?" Ethos asked me. I shook my head in defeat.

"I'm sorry, I'm not even past three yet," I admitted, earning a chuckle from him.

"To be honest, I'm not surprised. You have been daydreaming a lot recently, and it's hard to concentrate with all that loud music coming from Alpha Kappa anyways."

Once I realized all the racket coming from next door, it then became nearly impossible for me to finish my homework. At first, I tried ignoring it, but nearly every other minute we could hear shouts and whoops coming from outside, then a constant shuddering under our feet from the heavy bass, and finally, when I heard something shatter, it became the last straw.

Shutting my laptop closed with a highly audible 'click', I got up and put on my hoodie and converse.

"Where are you going?" asked Ethos worriedly.

"Just next door to ask the Alpha Kappa guys if they can tone it down a little bit."

"Do you think they will?"

"Probably not, but if I threaten to call the police to end their little get-together, then I'm sure they'd be reasonable," I replied, and headed outside.

In just the thirty seconds that it took for me to get from Beta Omega to the front door of the Alpha Kappa house, I already knew that it was a huge party. I saw people from nearly every single one of the forty-something fraternities and sororities that belonged to the university there, and I was certain nearly every one of them was drunk off their ass. But what could you do? It was a Saturday night in Greek land.

After finally managing to weave my way through the multitude of unsteady bodies, I politely rang the doorbell, hoping someone would be able to hear me. But alas, after several long, awkward moments, I simply let myself in.

I wandered around, intending on confronting the first Alpha Kappa I fixed my eyes on, but with no luck. As I turned a corner into the kitchen, though, I was suddenly bumped into by a frat boy who reeked of alcohol. When I looked up to see who it was, though, I had to do a double take.

"Cain?" I asked, surprised. He grinned and leaned against the doorframe, an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Evening, Princess."


	2. Cain 1

**Note: Congratulations to HamletMachine for reaching 200 pages of Starfighter! **

**Chapter 2**

**Cain**

* * *

I crossed my legs and stretched my arms across the back of the couch. The sworn brothers of Alpha Kappa looked at me from the other couches as I retold my experience with the first round of hazing. Basically it was that guys who were pledging to AK had to draw names out of a hat. Whoever's name we drew, we had to have sex with within two weeks, show proof, and retell the experience in detail.

"What did you do after you finally managed to get his pants off?" a guy from my chapter asked. I tilted my head back and chuckled a bit to myself at the memory.

"Well, the kid wasn't wearing any boxers, which wasn't surprising considering how fucking tight those pants were. So, I came head to head with his cock." I sat up and smirked at them. "I've had popsicles bigger than this kid's dick." I chuckled a bit as they burst into laughter. One of the brothers, Pathos, leaned forward a little.

"Wait, average popsicles, or the jumbo ones? Because I know you can take both at the same time if you wanted." Encke gave him a look and raised his eyebrow.

"And how do you know this, Pathos?" he asked. Pathos' eyes widened a little bit and I smacked myself on the forehead in secondhand embarrassment.

"I've seen him do it!" Now everyone was looking at him. He huffed and slumped back in the couch. "I give up. No one's going to believe whatever I say anyways." I shook my head and went back to telling my story.

"Normal sized popsicle, just so you can compare. So there I am, face to face with the popsicle dick and I'm trying my hardest not to laugh. After a bit, I calm down enough and take it all in at once - because what the fuck else am I going to do with such a little dick? Not much. - and the kid fucking screams! Like he wasn't expecting me to be able to fucking do it, right? Anyways, after about a minute, he comes for the second time since we fucking started this whole ordeal. It was really fucking pathetic." To my left, I hear a snort-turned-cough and Deimos, another brother, stood up to leave. I shook my head.

"By now, I've come to terms with the fact that there is no way this kid is going to get me off, so I'm trying to get myself as close as possible, so I can just get the whole thing over with. And he gives me this wide-eyed innocent fucking look and I'm like, 'Exactly how big of a virgin are you?' expecting him to have at least some experience. No. The fucker hadn't even been kissed before I got ahold of him!

"Instantly, I'm thinking, 'Shit. This isn't going to take long…' And it didn't. By the time he actually mustered the courage to let me put it in, he lasted sixteen seconds. Exactly. I counted. I guess I must've looked somewhat disappointed, because he apologized. A lot. And let me tell you, if there's nothing else the little shit has going for him, he gives a mean handy." Finished with my story, I leaned back and sunk into the couch. After all the laughter died down, Encke and Pathos, along with several other brothers, left the room to set up for our party that night. Deimos, however, came back in and flopped on the empty chair to my right.

"Real funny with the popsicle thing," he muttered quietly to me. He was born with damaged vocal chords, so he could only speak in a hushed whisper. I smirked.

"I thought that would give the guys a good laugh." He merely nodded in response. Without another word, I got up from the couch to go help the rest of the brothers set up for the party.

Around 10pm, people started showing up. By 10:30, there was a pretty decent crowd. And by 11, everything was in full swing, including me.

I was in the kitchen with some brothers and a few girls from our sister sorority, and had just downed my ninth shot in the past half-hour. I was definitely feeling the effects, and things were starting to get pretty blurry, just the way I liked it. I was just about to do another shot when Pathos took the glass from me while patting me on the back.

"Whoa, hold it there, buddy!" he hollered above the booming music, "We can't have you blacking out just yet! Don't you wanna see who you can get in your bed tonight?" He gave a mischievous grin, and I smirked back at him.

"You know, you're right, Pathos," I replied, "You pretty much read my mind." He laughed loudly.

"Well then, how about we make a game of it?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising my eyebrow in curiosity. He downed the shot before continuing.

"I'm gonna dare you. I dare you to fuck the next person who comes through that doorway-" he pointed to the doorway into the kitchen, "-and if you can't by the end of the night..." he leaned in closer to me, lowering his voice, "...then you have to run through all of Greek land...naked." I sniggered.

"Deal." I bluntly responded. There was no way I would lose anyways. Fucking was like breathing to me, and I knew all the tricks to get someone in the sheets with me, regardless of how resilient they were.

Pulling out a cigarette, I strode confidently over to the doorway to catch the next person that walked through, but was suddenly bumped into by some idiot who wasn't looking. I looked down, and there stood Abel, looking up at me with wide, dark eyes.

"Cain?" he asked in a shocked voice. I smirked at him.

"Evening, Princess." I replied with a smirk. However, due to my half-intoxicated state, it took me a moment to realize what Abel's presence meant. I glanced over to Pathos, who was leaning on the countertop. He grinned, and held up a glass of beer to me. Abel was my new target.

"Blyat." I swore.

"What was that?" Abel shouted. He probably didn't hear me over the music.

"Oh, it was nothing, uhh…" I had no idea what to say. This was definitely not in my plan. How in the world was I going to get Mr. Honors Program into the sack with me? He'd probably never even kissed anyone before, much less fucked. Plus, I was ninety-nine percent sure he hated my guts, despite our tutoring sessions together. I mean, I really couldn't blame him, considering it was partially my goal to make him hate me, but I almost cringed at the irony of it all. I had chosen to be an ass to him, and now I was trying to get his ass.

"Why are you here, Cain?" Abel asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Because I'm in Alpha Kappa…?" I replied. Abel raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, that explains a lot of things…" he muttered. I didn't know whether that was a compliment or not. "Well, either way…" he spoke, glancing over my shoulder at the countertop full of alcoholic beverages, "...I just came over to ask you guys to quiet it down."

"What? That's it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you might have actually come to party."

"I don't party."

"Doesn't really surprise me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, crossing his arms at me. Oops. I think I offended him.

"You're just too much of a goodie-two-shoes to party. Your idea of partying hard is studying until midnight instead of ten," I said, mocking his stance. He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I'm not a goodie-two-shoes." he replied, a hint of anger in his voice. I smirked.

"Prove it." I dared, leaning towards him.

"I don't have to prove myself to you."

"Are you sure? There's plenty of vodka over there calling your name."

"I have to go study."

"No you don't." I was about to go and grab a drink for him, but Pathos beat me to the punch.

"Here, Cain. I figured you might need this." he said, winking at me. I grinned, took the screwdriver, and handed it to Abel.

"Merry Christmas, Princess." He stared at me for a moment before taking the glass from my and raising it to his lips. I couldn't help myself from putting on a wide grin. I finally had a plan.

* * *

"Cain, everything's spinning…" Abel muttered slowly as he slouched down into the couch. We had moved into the main common room, and I had managed to get him to gulp down four screwdriver's already. I figured he'd like them, since the alcohol was hard to taste. And my assumption was definitely correct.

"That means it's working, Princess." I said with a laugh. I had also allowed myself to have a few more drinks, and my world was spinning slightly too. I was seated right next to Abel on the couch, as several people were playing beer pong on the coffee table. I turned to look at Abel, who by now had discarded both his hoodie and his converse, and was obviously out of it based on the blank stare he was giving to the red solo cups place on the table.

It was go time.

I set my drink down on the table next to the couch, and put my hand on Abel's upper thigh to get his attention. Slowly, he turned to look up at me.

"W'sup?" he slurred. I leaned in closer, and gazed into his hazy eyes.

"I knew that behind all that Honor Roll crap, you could actually have fun."

"See? I told you… I wasn't a goody… two shoes." he replied proudly. I smiled, and leaned in even closer, so that our noses were touching. Abel's eyes widened a little, and I knew he finally noticed what I was doing. He didn't back up, however. Instead, he stared directly into my eyes with anticipation.

"I think you should keep on proving that to me…" I almost-whispered.

In less than a second, my lips were on his. I could feel him tense up a little at the sudden contact, and I was pretty sure his eyes were still open, but I was intent on getting him in the mood. I ran my left hand up his torso to cup his cheek so he couldn't pull away, and placed my right hand in the small of his back. Sure enough, as I continued to kiss him, he slowly fell into time with me and started kissing me back with newfound vigor.

"Mmmmhh…" he moaned into our kiss. I smirked a bit, and pulled away so he and I could both catch our breath. Abel was panting heavily, and I could feel from the bulge in his jeans that he was extremely turned on. Slowly, I slid my hand over the denim, and massaged the fabric right over where his boner was, earning another moan from him.

"Hey, you two, get a room!" Shouted Pathos. I glanced over to the corner where he stood talking with his twin brother from Beta Omega, Logos, and grinned. I turned back to Abel, who was still slightly breathless.

"We should go upstairs…" I said. He merely nodded, his cheeks now a vivid shade of red.

Grabbing his hand, I helped him off the couch, and led him up the stairs to Pathos' room. I didn't live in the chapter house, so Pathos said if I ever needed to I could use his room for things like this, since he had it all to himself (I would definitely have to thank him for it later).

When we got into the room, I shut the door behind us before turning and looking at a swaying Abel. He looked a little lost, but I pushed every doubt I had from my mind when he looked directly at me, his eyes cloudy. I stepped toward him and he flinched slightly, albeit delayed due to his drunken state. The closer I got to him, the closer his back got to the wall until finally, it stopped him. I stepped closer and looked down at him, smirking. He looked at with me for a split second before dropping his gaze slightly to stare at my mouth. Without hesitating, I put my hands on either side of his face and bent down, smashing our lips together again.

I felt him snake his arms around me before tangling them in the hair at the base of my neck and tugging slightly. Fuck. I trailed one of my hands down the side of his neck and across his torso, stopping when I could feel the hem of his shirt. I listened to his panting as I moved my mouth from his lips to his jawline. I slid my hand across the skin under his shirt to rest on the small of his back as I sucked at the crook of his neck.

"Cain…" he breathed into my ear. I felt him groan as I slid my other hand down and grabbed his ass. Giving it a squeeze, I pressed our groins together, earning yet another moan from him. I moved my mouth back to his lips and kissed him again as both of my hands slid under his shirt and up the soft skin of his back. Carefully, so as not to scare him or accidentally have him fall over in his delicate state, I lifted his thin t-shirt up and over his shoulders, leaving his upper body completely uncovered.

Damn… he's actually pretty hot, I thought to myself. I almost wanted to bash my head on a wall for not realizing earlier how attractive he was, but I assumed that all of the nerdiness had probably clouded my vision. Now, though, I could see perfectly how beautiful he was. His skin was spotless, and the redness of his cheeks contrasted perfectly with how pale he was. I stared intently for a few moments before leaning back in to suck on his neck as he intertwined his fingers into my hair once more.

Slowly, I trailed my licks and kisses down from his collarbone, to his chest, and eventually down to his stomach, and I couldn't stand it anymore. Grabbing his narrow hips, I lifted him up and threw him onto the bed next to us, and expertly pulled off my shirt and pants. With just my boxers on, I crawled onto the bed after him, and hovered over him as I started to unbutton his jeans.

"Cain… I…" Abel muttered as I fiddled with his zipper, "I've never... done this before." I smirked.

"It's okay princess, I'll be sure to take real good care of y-" but before I could finish the sentence, I looked up to find Abel's eyes closed, and his breathing relaxed. Is he fucking sleeping? I thought to myself. To check and make sure, I poked his tummy a little, but his eyes didn't open. Yep, he fucking zonked out. Awesome.

Groaning, I leaned back to sit at the edge of the bed. What was I gonna do now? I was definitely not fucking a sleeping person, since that's just rude. Not that his falling asleep right in the middle of it wasn't rude either, but I couldn't much blame him, since it was probably his first time getting drunk. I supposed that Pathos had won the bet this time.

With a heavy sigh of defeat, I pulled off Abel's jeans for him (so he would be more comfortable), laid down beside him, and pulled the covers over both of us. Since I had already lost to Pathos, the least he could do was let us sleep here for the night.

The last thing I remember before passing out, though, was Abel cuddling right up next to me, sighing softly in his sleep.


	3. Abel 2

**Chapter 3**

**Abel**

I remember waking up at first to warmth, sunlight streaming in through the window blinds, and a raging headache. Giving a muffled groan, I snuggled further into my pillow, not wanting to face the sunlight nor the land of the waking.

After a few short moments, though, I realized it wasn't a pillow. I could feel a faint heartbeat, and slight movement. Opening my eyes, I found Cain right next to me, his eyes closed and his breathing steady. With a gasp, I shot up into a sitting position.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed. Groaning, Cain turned to the side a bit, before opening one of his eyes.

"The fuck's wrong with you, Princess?" he complained as he, too, sat up. I could feel my heart pounding and my breathing becoming uneven as I noticed that he and I were both shirtless. Noticing what my mind was trying to process, Cain smirked. "What, trying to remember what happened last night?" he muttered. I felt a blush forming on my face.

Slowly, I pulled the sheets up to see how clothed I was on the bottom half of my body. Upon inspection, though, it was a relief to find that I at least still had my underwear on. My surprise now turning into anger, I quickly shifted my gaze back to glare at Cain.

"What exactly did happen last night?" I interrogated. He gave a scoff.

"I don't remember much, either, Goldilocks," he said before throwing back the covers and standing up. I watched as he laced his fingers together and stretched his arms over his head. I blushed slightly, realizing I was staring at his back muscles. I quickly turned my head to look away as he walked across the room, stooping over to pick something off the floor. I turned back to look at him just in time to see him toss my t-shirt and jeans towards me.

"B-but…" I muttered, not bothering to put my clothes on yet. I stared at the shirt and jeans in my lap. This can't have actually happened, I thought. I looked back to Cain who was pulling his shirt over his head, ruffling his already tousled hair. Oh god. Was it really possible that I could've had sex with a guy who I had dreaded talking to not even five days ago? "...Did we, um…"

"Have sex?" Cain finished my sentence bluntly, causing me to tense up a little at the thought of it. "Maybe. It's entirely possible," he said, looking back at me. He raised his eyebrows. "Are you going to walk your happy little ass back to where you came from, or sit in bed all day?" He flopped back down beside me and rolled onto his stomach, resting his chin on his fists. Looking up at me with a grin and wide eyes, he continued, "I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you fantasized about me. I'm hot as hell." I looked away with a grimace.

"Not very likely," I replied.

"That's not what you thought last night." My eyes widened and I felt blood rise up to my cheeks. Hastily, I pulled my shirt over my head and stood up to pull my jeans on. I heard Cain snicker behind me as I fastened the button on my pants. I could feel him looking at me from where he laid on the bed.

"You're quite the screamer, you know," he said with a smooth tone. No. I thought, standing there motionless, staring blankly at the wall. "It was good, though. Means you were definitely enjoying it." Quickly turning back to glare at Cain, I could feel my blood starting to boil.

"Say one more thing and I swear to God…" I threatened, causing Cain to whistle at me in response.

"Princess, don't even. You're not cut out for fist fights." I glared at him.

"How would you know?" I snipped. He grinned and sat up on his knees before standing on the mattress. Walking to the edge of the bed, he hopped down and stepped towards me. Standing firm, I turned around and frowned up at him, partially because I was mad at him and partially because I was mad at the fact that he was taller than me.

"I don't," he growled. "I do know how to drive you absolutely crazy, though."

"You drive me crazy by existing, you pretentious asshole." He chuckled.

"Are you sure?" Cain muttered, bringing his hand up to tangle in the hair at the nape of my neck, "Are you sure it's not for… other reasons?" With a jolt, I quickly slapped his hand away, earning another smirk from him. "Wow, you still have some fight," he responded, sounding mildly impressed.

"Go to hell," I snapped, glaring up at him.

"Probably already going there anyways," he replied bluntly as he sifted through one of the pockets in his jeans. With a smile, he pulled out a cigarette, and proceeded to light it. I couldn't help but stare at the little tube of tobacco angrily.

"You can't smoke that in here." He raised a single eyebrow, exhaling the fumes.

"You think I give a flying fuck what I'm 'allowed' or 'not allowed' to do?" he asked, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.

"Obviously not," I responded, clenching my fists. "It is blatantly clear that you couldn't give half a shit for any of the rules, actually. You just do whatever… and, apparently, whomever, the hell you want! You don't do your schoolwork; you talk back to not only your teachers, but also the dean himself; and you smoke, which, by the way, is terrible for, not only yourself, but also those around you, in places where it's not allowed!"

"Rules are for stuck up little Daddy's boys like you who don't have a mind of their own and just do whatever they are told. You're too busy being a perfect little angel and getting pats on the head to have friends or do anything besides sit in your room and study so you can get your perfect grades and perfect scholarships. But you don't even fucking need them because your daddy pays for everything, meaning you've probably never worked a day in your life. Not to mention, whenever someone hurts your poor little feelings, you probably just run crying to your daddy because he fixes all of your petty little problems!" I cringed at every sentence, and once he was finally finished, I glared up at him, my anger at it's peak. After a moment of complete and utter silence, I finally spoke.

"Fuck you." After I had said that, we were both enveloped in a bubble of silence. We simply stared at each other; me, full of anger and disappointment; and Cain, whose smirk had suddenly disappeared after what I had just said, and was now staring blankly into my eyes. There was nothing.

That was, until Cain interrupted it by pulling me towards him and pressing our mouths together, hard. I tried pulling away, but he was so much stronger than me that he was able to keep our lips locked for what felt like ages. Finally, though, he let me go, and after taking a few seconds to catch my breath, I looked back up at him, and saw that goddamned smirk.

And I slapped him right across the face.

* * *

Upon returning to my room back in the Beta Omega house, I was immediately greeted by a worried and talkative Ethos.

"Abel, where have you been?" he asked as I walked in and tossed my hoodie onto my dresser. "Last night you said you'd be right back…"

"I know, I know," I replied, giving a heavy sigh. Sluggishly, I made my way over to my own chair and nestled into it, suddenly feeling very tired. My headache was still present, so I grabbed a water bottle from the mini-fridge next to me and popped some advil into my mouth as Ethos continued on.

"What happened to you?" he questioned, sitting back down.

"It's… a very long story," I said after swallowing down the pills. "I don't really want to talk about it." After a moment of not saying anything, Ethos let out a gasp.

"Wait, did you go and party over at Alpha Kappa?!" he exclaimed. I covered my ears at the sudden noise.

"God, Ethos, don't talk so loud." He slouched back in his chair a little.

"Sorry," he apologized. "But I thought you never partied. Was there a girl or something?" At the thought of this, my mind immediately went back to thinking of Cain. Feeling my frustration rising again, I stood up.

"Look, I said I don't want to talk about it, Ethos," I said firmly.

"Did something bad happen?" he inquired, worry still present in his voice. I clenched a fist.

"Ethos, shut the fuck up!" I shouted. With a small gasp, Ethos looked away, saying nothing. I instantly felt a pang of remorse. I walked back over to my dresser and opened the middle drawer, Sighing, I walked over to my closet, changed my shirt, and slipped my hoodie back on. "I'm going for a walk," I muttered quietly. Ethos merely nodded in response.

I strode through the open door into the hallway, putting my headphones in my ears. I scrolled through the music on my iPod as I thudded down the stairs and through the lounge. Finally settling on a playlist, I rounded a corner and started walking. I didn't know where I was going, but I needed to do something to clear my head. I turned the volume up nearly all the way and headed towards central campus.

At first, I had no clue where to go. I meandered around, thinking, but also trying not to think at the same time. And the next thing I knew, I was out in the grassy knoll in the middle of campus, where people usually went to lay out in the sun or play frisbee with their friends.

Despite it being a Sunday, there were quite a few people out enjoying the nice weather. As I walked past, I saw two familiar faces sitting in the shade of one of the trees near the sidewalk. Taking out my earbuds, I made my way over towards them.

"Hey, Pathos, Logos," I greeted, trying to sound as joyful as possible. The two brothers looked up at me, Pathos giving me a wide grin.

"Well, if it isn't tutor-boy!" he exclaimed happily with a laugh. He offered me a seat on the grass next to him, and I quietly accepted. I sank down onto the ground next to him and rested my forearms on my knees.

"So I heard you bit Ethos' head off," Logos said, looking past his brother to me. I sighed.

"Yeah. I forgot to apologize for that…" I trailed off, regretting yelling at Ethos. He had always been so nice, and was just worried about me. In my defense, however, I had definitely made it clear that I didn't want to talk earlier.

"He seems pretty worried about you, man," Pathos retorted. I sighed. "He said you didn't come home last night."

"I don't know what happened last night after Cain gave me the first couple drinks," I confessed. "Do either of you have any idea what happened to me?" Pathos chuckled a little at the question.

"Well, you were making out heatedly with pretty boy on the couch-"

"-before you went upstairs with him. We didn't see you for the rest of the night," Logos finished. The two of them had a knack for finishing the others' sentences. Groaning, I rubbed my face with my hands. I tangled my fingers in my hair and leaned back in the grass.

"Fuck," I whispered to myself. I heard the twins gasp.

"Uh oh. Must be really bad."

"You never curse, Abel. What the hell happened?" I groaned louder and sat up.

"If I tell you, you have to swear on each others' lives that you will not tell anyone." They both nodded and drew an invisible 'X' over their hearts. I took a deep breath and told them what I knew: I had a few drinks with Cain and woke up next to him almost naked. I told them everything except for the small detail of him kissing me when we were sober, as I myself wanted to wipe that from my head.

"Holy shit.," Pathos said, the shocked expression on his face slowly turning into a smirk. Logos grinned at me.

"Ever since I first saw that kid, I've wondered what he was like in bed. Mmf," he said. Pathos gave him a hard smack on the arm. I glared at him and stood up.

"I'm going to finish my walk, guys. Remember: do not tell a soul." They both gave me a mock salute before I turned and walked towards the other end of campus.

I shoved the headphones back in my ears and pressed play again. As the sound flooded into my head, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my hoodie. This can't be happening. I thought to myself. Not only had I woken up in the same bed, but I had been seen kissing him, "heatedly" as Pathos had said, beforehand. Word of this can't get around too far, or I'll have some killer consequences to pay. I sighed heavily as I realized that the half of the student body had probably heard the rumors.

Angrily, I kicked a rock off the sidewalk and into the grass as I walked alongside a building. When I got to the corner, I turned, but suddenly was knocked backwards and pushed down to the concrete. I groaned, laying there for a moment. I stood back up, catching the breath that had been knocked out of me, and rubbed the back of my head as I looked around for the other victim of the collision.

"Fuck, Princess, you scuffed my board!" yelled Cain as he, too, got up from the ground.

God damn it.

* * *

**Cain**

I stood up, brushing the dirt off of my jeans. Stomping over to the grass, I snatched up my longboard and turned back to Abel, who was now glaring at me with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"Does it look like I fucking care about your longboard, Cain?" he snapped before throwing his hood over his head and storming off down the sidewalk. Dumbfounded, I watched him walk away. To be honest, I was disappointed that he left so quickly, but damn, it was nice to watch him go.


	4. Cain 2

**Chapter Four**

**Cain**

* * *

After the very brief yet tense encounter with Abel, I opted to walk back to my dorm rather than board. I needed the time to think, plus it was a nice day, as far as days usually go. With a heavy sigh, I picked my board up from the ground, and began to make my way down the various sidewalks that zig-zagged through campus.

My mind wandered as my feet dragged across the cement. I thought about how much Abel was beginning to surprise me. At first, I had thought that he was just like any other honor-roll kid, sheltered and socially inept. And though I probably was half-right, there was also something about him that was completely the opposite. He had a fire inside him.

And I liked it.

A little voice in the back of my mind told me that I shouldn't play with the flame, and that I would end up getting burnt, but it wasn't like I hadn't been burned before. Plus, Abel was different. Smiling to myself, I realized that the curiosity was too much, and despite what small amount of judgment I had, I wanted to see just how brightly that fire within him could burn.

Upon returning to my dorm room, though, my thoughts were immediately halted when I opened the door to find a light-haired stranger inside. I tensed up a bit, thinking at first that it was Abel, but quickly realized by the tousled hair and rounded nose that it wasn't.

"Oh, Cain, you're back kind of late." commented Praxis, my roommate. I turned to face him. He was leaning back in his desk chair, while the light-haired boy was sitting on our futon, playing videogames.

"Who the fuck is this?" I asked, gesturing to the stranger. Praxis frowned before responding.

"This is Ethos, he's a sophomore." The so-called Ethos gave me a wide smile and waved. I scrunched my eyebrows, gave a half-hearted wave back, and walked over to the closet. As I quietly slid off my leather jacket, the two of them continued talking to each other.

"Anyways," Ethos muttered, "after I tried asking him what was wrong, he said he didn't want to talk about it, and told me to 'shut the fuck up'!"

"Damn, that's harsh…" replied Praxis. Ethos sighed.

"Yeah, I've never known Abel to curse like that. Not to me, anyways." I froze. Abel? Why the hell were they talking about Abel? I walked out of the closet toward my desk, stepping over Ethos' legs on the way. He pulled them back and sat cross-legged on the futon. "Sorry," he said quietly before turning back to Praxis.

"How do you know Abel?" I asked, flopping in the chair and propping my feet up on the desk. Ethos looked at me, a slightly frightened and confused look on his face.

"You know him?" I smirked.

"You could say that."

"Did you happen to be at that party last night?" he questioned.

"I might have, why do you ask?"

"Well…" he began, setting the videogame controller down next to him, "he went over there just to ask them to be quiet, but then he didn't come back until the next morning, and he seemed really… I don't know, off? I'm just worried for him."

"So you're his roommate, I assume?" He nodded yes, looking up at me with big, gray eyes. I sighed, realizing that Abel had the privilege of rooming with an adorable little shit like this kid. "Look, I'm not sure if he would want me telling you what happened at the party, but what I can tell you is that it was probably my fault."

"The fuck did you do now, Cain?" Praxis interjected.

"Fuck off, Praxis," I replied as I flipped him the bird before continuing on. "Anyways, I have been trying to talk to him about it too, but he seems adamant on not being within fifty feet of me, so it's kinda slow going." Ethos looked down at his lap.

"Yeah, I haven't heard from him since he went on his walk."

"Did you try texting him?" Praxis asked.

"Well, actually, I hadn't thought of that…" muttered Ethos, fishing his phone out of his pants pocket.

"Wait, you have his number?" I asked, leaning forward a bit in my chair.

"Obviously. They're roommates, idiot." insulted Praxis. I growled and told him to shut it before turning to face Ethos again. He nodded in response to my question.

"Could you maybe give me his number then?" I asked as nicely as I could. "You see, he is kinda also tutoring me, so in case I need to get ahold of him…" Ethos raised his eyebrows at me in surprise.

"Oh, you're Cain!" he chirped, sitting up straight. "Abel mentioned he was tutoring someone by that name. I didn't expect you to be Praxis' roommate! Small world, huh?" he said with a laugh.

"He told you about me?" I asked, taken aback. Praxis chuckled.

"They were probably talking shit about you, no surprise there." I looked daggers at him.

"What is this, Praxis, like the third time I have had to tell you to shut the fuck up?" Praxis merely raised his hands in surrender. I sighed and returned to speaking to Ethos.

"Anyways, yeah. I'm his… tutoree?"

"Tutee." corrected Ethos.

"That sounds dumb, but okay." Ethos gave a light laugh.

"Here, let me give you his number…" he muttered, scrolling through his contact list. Pulling out my phone as well, I couldn't help but smile a little. Ethos was almost as cute as Abel, and I hated to hide parts of the truth from him, but Abel was already upset at me enough as it was.

In the back of my mind, though, I still knew about my bet with Pathos. Next time I saw him, there was no doubt he would definitely confront me about whether or not Abel and I actually fucked. But there was definitely no way in hell I was running through Greek land naked. At least, not that it was starting to get cold outside, if you catch my drift.

And because of that reason, I was thankful for my quick thinking earlier when I told Abel that we had actually done it. It was just my luck that he was too drunk to remember, and if he was convinced into thinking we did, then it would be a piece of cake to dupe Pathos and anyone else who asked.

But all of that talk of me and Abel having sex… it made me wonder if I really could get him into the sack with me. It was definitely gonna take some skill and tact to make it happen, but I couldn't really admit that I didn't like a good challenge.

After Ethos gave me Abel's number and I punched it into my phone, I smirked. Playing with the flame was definitely going to be fun.

* * *

I was debating whether or not to wait a day to call Abel, since he had seemed so pissed off earlier that morning, but as the sun went down, and the air outside had begun to cool off, I realized that we were supposed to be meeting tomorrow at the normal time, so I counted on my better judgment and pressed the green call button. I leaned against the wall in the stairwell where I had gone to get a small fraction of privacy. I stared at the cracks in the wall across from me while I listened to the dialing sound. After three rings, I heard a confused voice on the other end.

"Hello…?" I smirked.

"Hello, Abel," I responded as I stepped down a couple steps and sat on the landing.

"How the hell did you get my number, Cain?" I snickered.

"I have my resources," I said. He didn't hang up, so I took that as a sign of progress. "Besides, you wouldn't talk to me face to face, so this was the next best thing."

"Yeah, well, last time we tried to talk face to face you…" he paused, probably making sure no one was around him. "You shoved your fucking tongue down my throat. I'm not too keen on doing that again."

"You liked it," I purred, grinning to myself.

"What do you want, Cain?" he snipped.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked.

"If you don't have a legitimate reason to be talking right now, I'm going to hang up." he threatened.

"Now don't be hasty!" I said, trying to keep him on the line. "I know calling you just for shits and giggles probably sounds like something I would do, but I seriously wanted to ask you something." he was silent for a moment before replying.

"...What?" he asked.

"Does this mean our tutoring sessions are over?" I heard him snort.

"Not a chance," he said just before the line went dead. Grinning, I stood up and took the stairs two at a time. When I got back to my room, I flopped in front of my desk and grabbed a book off the shelf behind me. After fishing a pencil out of my bag, I flipped through the pages of the book. A few minutes later, the door opened. I looked up to see Praxis giving me an astonished look.

"Holy shit you know how to do homework?" I glared at him.

"For the sixth time today, Fuck the fuck off, asshole."

* * *

Getting out of bed was hell. Tuesday nights are always hell in general. The only thing that could be considered worse are the Wednesday nights that come after the craziness of Tuesdays. I looked at the clock next to my head. Realizing I had already slept through two of my four morning classes, I decided now would be a good time to actually get out of bed. Achy and groaning, I flung the covers off of me and swung my feet over to sit upright. After a long stretch, I got up, got my shower caddy and towel, and headed off down the hallway to shower.

Since nearly everyone was already in classes, there was no one to be found in the bathroom. Good, I thought. I didn't like people much anyways. Not in the mornings, at least.

Using the emptiness of the bathroom to my advantage, I stripped down in the openness of the shower room, not bothering to hide anything. And after placing my boxers and towel on a hook, I stepped into the stall, turning the water up to hot.

As I shampooed my hair, though, my thoughts drifted off to Abel. After I had called him, things had gotten better between us. Monday's tutoring session had been average, which was actually an improvement. Sure, there was still an underlying rivalry, but I wouldn't expect anything less. He was fiery, and that fire in competition with my stubbornness would always cause a clash, no matter what. But I found amusement in teasing him. He even looked pretty sexy when he was upset.

After conditioning and rinsing my hair, I turned the shower head off, and proceeded to get ready for the day. With luck, maybe I would actually not be late to my 10:00 class.

At 3:05, after I trudged into the library, still tired. The hot shower had helped, but not much. My muscles still hurt, and my feet were killing me. I flopped into the chair in front of Abel and put my head on the table. Covering it with my arms, I sighed.

"Someone's tired," Abel said. I could almost hear the grin he was wearing. Without moving, I groaned loudly.

"Work was hell," I responded, voice muffled by my arms. I sat up and rubbed my face with my hands, trying to wake myself up a little. Abel was watching me, an amused look on his face.

"Where do you work?" he asked.

"Studio Thirteen." I sat back in my chair, crossing my arms. I smirked as his facial expression went from amused to shocked.

"Isn't that a strip club?"

"Yup."

"You don't actually strip, right?" he asked. I leaned forward a little, lowering my voice.

"What would you do if I did?" Abel coughed a little, obviously unsure of how to reply.

"Well, I mean, I guess that's fine… uh…" I chuckled.

"Don't get too excited, Princess, I wouldn't want you to embarrass yourself by popping a boner in the middle of the library." Abel's face immediately turned beet-red at the comment.

"I-I wouldn't do that…!" he sputtered, "Unlike you, I actually have some self-control!" I snickered.

"Yeah, and unlike me, you have probably never masturbated a day in your life." Abel gasped before furrowing his eyebrows in frustration.

"We are not here to talk about masturbation, okay Cain?!" he shouted a little too loudly. Realizing that someone probably heard, I turned to look around at the other tables, and sure enough, Abel was getting some shocked glances from other students. "I… uh…" Abel muttered, obviously registering that others had heard. I couldn't help but laugh loudly.

"Princess, you are a riot!" I said through my laughter. Abel hid his head behind a textbook in embarrassment.

"Stop laughing!" he pleaded. Wiping away my tears of laughter, I finally managed to calm myself down.

"Okay, okay," I replied, "we can get to doing the tutoring thing now, if you want." Peaking out from behind the book, Abel checked to make sure no one was staring at us anymore. Seeing that the moment had passed, he cleared his throat, and got down to looking over the list of things he had made for us to do. Glancing at me, he frowned.

"You didn't bring anything with you… again," he said with a sigh. I shrugged and looked at the list he had in front of him. I grabbed it and snatched the pencil he had in his hand. Reading the list, I crossed off all of the things he had down for today."What are you…" he began.

"I already did them," I said, handing him back the paper and pencil. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"You…. wait, what?" he asked, suddenly confused. I chuckled.

"I did my homework for once," I retorted. Abel gasped slightly as a grin spread across his face.

"Cain! I'm amazed!" I waved a hand at him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He chuckled and shut his computer before shoving it in his backpack. I watched him as he stretched his arms above his head. My eyes shifted down when his shirt rode up to reveal his bellybutton and the soft, gorgeous skin of his abdomen. I smirked as Saturday Night's memories came back to me. What I wouldn't do to run my hands across him again. I shook the thought from my head when he stood up and swung his bag over his shoulder.

"So…" he trailed off. I smiled.

"So?" I prompted. He blushed slightly.

"Have you eaten yet?" he asked. "I'm starving." I was slightly taken aback by the request, but I nodded in agreement and stood up.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Let's just go downstairs to the café," he said with a smile, and started toward the stairs. I followed him, my eyes trailing down to look at his butt as he walked in front of me. Jesus, fuck. Get yourself together, Cain! I internally scolded myself, attempting to avert my gaze to somewhere more acceptable. I settled on just staring at the back of his head.

I sighed with relief when we finally reached the small coffee shop on the first floor of the library. It was dimly lit and cozy, with a good number of students sitting either in the booths or at the tables studying quietly. After we ordered, we sat down at one of the empty corner booths: me with my Americano with a double shot of espresso and sandwich; Abel with his turtle latté, sandwich, and a banana. We picked a small two-person table in a corner, next to one of the windows.

"So what possessed you to finish all those assignments?" Abel asked with a smile as he took a sip of his latté. I gave the most honest answer I could think of.

"I don't really know." I said with a laugh, resting my hands behind my head as I looked outside through the window panes. "I just felt like being productive for once." Abel laughed softly.

"I suppose that works. I guess I just feel like that all the time."

"That sounds like a horribly boring way to live." I mocked, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"Yes, but it helps to get things done." Abel explained, "I hardly ever have to worry about procrastination or missing deadlines. My father…" he paused for a moment, looking down at the surface of the table, "...my father made sure I was a good student from a very early age. He wouldn't settle for anything short of brilliant."

"No offense, but he sounds pretty stuck-up to me." I commented, earning another laugh from him.

"That may be true… and to be honest, it was horribly boring. While other kids were out playing, or going to movies, or even going to our high school football games, I was stuck at home, either doing my homework, or, if I didn't have any school work, practicing the piano."

"You play the piano?" I asked, taken by surprise. He nodded.

"Yeah, I've been playing for fourteen years." I whistled.

"Wow, that's a long time. I play the electric bass myself, but I only started playing when I hit my rebellious teenage years." Abel smirked.

"Cain, I think you're still there." he retorted. I couldn't stop the huge grin that spread across my face. I laughed and shrugged.

"I'm not as rebellious as I used to be, trust me," I said quietly. Abel looked at me in awe.

"What made you straighten things out?" he asked. I cringed at the memory and shook my head.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said. He nodded in understanding and wadded up the now empty wrapper of his sandwich. Setting it aside, he grabbed the banana. I watched as his fingers peeled the yellow skin of the fruit down.

"So what else are you interested in?" he asked. I snapped my eyes away from the banana peel that was grazing his knuckles, and instead watched as he slowly lifted the fruit up to his mouth. Shit shit shit shit… I couldn't help but think dirty thoughts. I quickly shifted my gaze back to looking out the window.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Are you involved in anything besides Alpha Kappa? Have you been sworn in, or are you still pledging?" he asked.

"Still pledging," I replied, trying to hide my nervousness. "I still have lots of hazing to endure." he gave a laugh at this.

"I know how that is." he replied. "Except I have a feeling that Alpha Kappa's challenges are a bit more… drastic. Compared to Beta Omega's, I mean." He lifted the banana back up to his mouth. He almost took a bite when I responded.

"Probably. What did you have to do?" I had to keep the conversation going. I could not watch as he ate that goddamned banana. How could I possibly get turned on by this kid eating a fucking piece of fruit? There was seriously something wrong with me.

"I remember they gave all the pledges a yard stick that they had to get girls to sign. If you got it covered with names of girls and their phone numbers, then you got to sit out the next round." Without warning, he took another bite of the banana. Jesus, could he eat that thing any slower? I thought to myself as I tried averting my gaze. It was like he was almost trying to eat the thing seductively. I tried continuing the conversation.

"Anything else they made you do? Anything remotely close to what you think AK would do?" Abel chuckled.

"Well, there was a time when the pledges had to set up a lemonade stand in the middle of central campus."

"What's so bad about that?" I asked, quickly turning away again before he took another bite of the banana. I sipped my drink as he responded.

"Well, we had to wear sundresses." I almost spat out my drink. He laughed at me. Grabbing a napkin from the basket on the table, I wiped my mouth. Shaking his head, he continued, "It gets worse! In order to get a glass of lemonade, you had to spank the most attractive one of us with Beta Omega's House Paddle. Whoever got the most spankings won." Shit. I couldn't handle this kid eating a banana, and now he just planted the mental image of him getting spanked in my head. Fuck me… I crossed my legs under the table, bumping his with my foot. To my surprise, he didn't jerk away. Instead, he stretched out further so that our calves were in constant contact. God dammit. He gave me a small smirk. This fucking kid.

"Proud to say I won that round," he said, cockiness dripping from every word. Damn fucking right you did. "What have you had to do so far?"

"Well," I started. He slowly brought the fruit of torture up to his lips again and stared me dead in the eyes as he took a bite. I growled, forgetting about the hazing story. "You're doing this on purpose." He finally gulped down the last part of banana and gave me an innocent shrug.

"Doing what on purpose?" he asked.

"Eating that fucking banana that fucking slowly."

"What do you mean? It's just a banana," he said, fighting a smirk. I sat up straight, pointing at him.

"I see that fucking smirk, you little shit!" without warning, he burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but follow suit. When we both calmed down, we sat in silence for a while. I finished my coffee and was spinning the cup around like a top absentmindedly while watching Abel. He was reading something on his phone and biting his lip.

"Don't do that," I said, smoothly. He looked up at me, releasing his bottom lip from the grasp of his teeth.

"Do what?" he asked, clueless.

"Don't bite your lip. Well, not unless you want me to ravish you," I said in a low growl. His eyes widened slightly, and his cheeks turned a deep shade of red.

"Is that… some kind of kink you have or something?" he asked quietly.

"If that means I find it undeniably sexy, yes." He lowered his eyes back to his phone. After a few moments of silence, his teeth grabbed hold of his lower lip again. I gave a low growl of frustration. In an attempt to ignore him, I glanced at the clock.

"Well shit," I said with a sigh after realizing what time it was. Abel looked up at me, setting his phone down.

"What?" he asked, a slight look of concern on his face.

"My Engineering lab is half over. Oh well," I answered. He shook his head at me.

"You shouldn't skip class. It's not a good habit," he said. I shrugged.

"Doesn't really matter, really. We rarely do anything, anyways," I said. He shook his head again and looked back at his phone. A few seconds later, I heard it vibrate.

"Crap. I have to go to my study group," he said. He stood up and grabbed the trash off the table. I watched as he strode over to the trash can and dumped our wrappers into it. Coming back to the table, he swung his bag over his shoulder. I stood up and walked with him to the nearby doors. When we got outside, the sky was a bright mix of oranges, reds, and purples. We walked to the end of the sidewalk and stopped for a moment.

"I have to go this way," Abel said, gesturing in the opposite direction. I nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I need to go and meet up with some of the guys from AK anyways." I replied. He smiled up at me.

"I'll see you later, Cain," he said before turning to walk toward the academic buildings.

Just as he turned to leave, though, something in my mind told me I didn't want him to go. I grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him toward me.

"Cain, what are you..." he began to say. Before he could finish the sentence, though, I silenced him by softly pressing our lips together. I could feel him tense up at the sudden contact, but after a moment he leaned into the kiss, lifting his one free hand up to caress my neck. For a half-second, I thought maybe he was toying with me again, and that he would try using that free hand to slap me, but it didn't happen. Instead, he and I began to slowly move our mouths together. It wasn't sloppy making out, but rather just kisses. Lots, and lots, and lots of passionate kisses.

Unfortunately, the moment ended much too soon when Abel pulled away for air, the all-too-familiar blush present on his cheeks. For another few seconds, he simply stared up at me, trying to catch his breath.

"I… um…" he muttered, causing me to smile down at him.

"Don't you need to get to that study group?" I asked. He pulled back and nodded.

"Um… yeah. Study group. Right," he said, flustered. I grinned and let go of his hand.

"Goodnight, Princess," I said as he walked away. He turned his head and grinned at me.

Maybe playing with fire wouldn't burn me after all.


	5. Abel 3

**Note: Have you guys read Page 85 on the comic? Holy buckets. Here's Chapter 5 for you all. Enjoy! ;)**

**Chapter 5**

**Abel**

* * *

After what happened that Wednesday night, I felt… different, though not in a bad way. I felt more awake, more in-tune with what was going on around me. And, in addition, I would often find myself thinking of Cain. I would just be sitting in class, or doing my homework, and then thoughts of him would pop up in my mind, causing me to suddenly get butterflies in my stomach. And, despite hardly knowing much about him other than that he had a bad attitude and was in a rival fraternity, I hadn't ever felt this way about someone before. Granted, I had also never been kissed by someone before, at least not while I was sober, but still. The butterflies were… nice.

Thursday passed by slowly, considering Cain and I didn't meet for tutoring that day. But, as I went to my Friday classes, and the clock was nearing three, I couldn't help but feel a bit excited to see him. I wouldn't let him know, though. I still couldn't bring myself to let him have the satisfaction of anything. It was too good for his ego.

Finally, at 2:55, I walked through the doors of the library, and sat down at our usual table. Despite knowing that Cain would show up five minutes late, I hated not being on time, and so I waited patiently.

That was, until I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Looking at the screen, I saw Cain was… calling me? Curiosity beginning to pool in my mind, I slid my thumb over the screen to answer.

"Cain? What's up?" I asked. I heard him sigh on the other end.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to the library," he said. I heard a slight rasp in his voice, like he was fighting a sore throat.

"Are you sick?" I asked. A muffled coughing sound came through the speaker and I frowned.

"Yeah," he responded. "Not too bad, though. Just a wicked cough and I'm really sore. The sore stuff could be because of work, though…" he trailed off and I could picture his trademark smirk plastered across his face. I sighed.

"You have a Chem exam on Monday, Cain," I said, ignoring his attempt to fluster me with the mental image of him doing a strip tease.

"So come tutor me in my room," he responded. "I hear change of atmosphere is good for studying or some shit." I tensed up a bit and the butterflies returned.

"And where might that be?" I asked, shoving my computer back in my bag. I stood up and swung it over my shoulder before heading back downstairs.

"Noir Hall, room 369." he answered as I walked.

"Okay, I will be there in ten minutes." I replied before saying goodbye and ending the call. As I slipped my phone back into my pants pocket, I sighed. Noir hall was almost completely on the other side of campus. He definitely owed me one. However, I was interested in seeing where Cain lived. But also, in the back of my mind, I also knew that Cain and I would probably be alone together.

Stupid butterflies.

* * *

When I finally reached Noir hall, I climbed up the stairs to the main entrance. Once I got into the building, however, upon further inspection I realized that there was no elevator. With a heavy sigh I pushed open the door to the stairwell and made my way up to the third floor.

Noir hall had one of the most confusing layouts I had ever seen. I could've sworn it was literally like Hogwarts or something. There were so many dead end hallways, doors that lead nowhere, and somehow, I had ended up on the fourth floor on the girls side of the building.

Finally, though, after a lot of backtracking, I made it to room 369. To my surprise, though, the door was already ajar, and I could hear some faint music playing from within. I recognized the song, but couldn't place the name. I slowly pushed the door open further.

The lights inside were dim, the only source being a desk lamp in the corner of the room. There was a bed pushed into the corner of the room, upon which Cain was sitting, wrapped tightly in a large black duvet.

"You can come in, you know," he said, looking up at me. I stepped over the threshold and stepped inside the small room. Looking around, I saw a drastic difference between the two sides of the room. What I assumed was Cain's side was rather messy. There were papers and (hopefully) empty cans strewn across the desk, an almost full trash can, clothes scattered on the floor and thrown in the closet. The other side, on the other hand, was very clean and orderly.

Slowly, he stood up on the bed and stepped down onto the floor. I watched as he bent over and picked up his presumably dirty laundry and threw it in the basket in the closet.

"Sorry, I know it's kind of messy." he admitted. I smiled.

"Kind of? You're funny." I replied, stepping further into the room after closing the door behind me. "I don't really mind, though. At least you have space on the floor to walk around. I have seen some guys' rooms in Beta Omega who don't even have that." Cain let out a laugh.

"Good to know I am at least more cleanly than some."

"But, you know…" I muttered, laying my backpack down on the floor so that it was leaning on the side of his bed, "...you should really let in some natural light." Moving over to the one window in the room, I lifted the blinds up so that the sun streamed into the darkness of the room. He groaned.

"It burns though…" he complained. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Sucks," I said bluntly, returning over to his side of the room. Quietly, I sat down cross-legged on the floor next to his bed, and began fishing through my backpack. Following suit, Cain got his chemistry book, notebook, and pencil, and returned to the warmth of his bed. Setting his class materials to the side, he wrapped himself back in the blanket.

"I don't think you'll be able to study for your chemistry exam if you don't have your hands free." He glared at me and shoved his hands through the small opening of the blanket.

"You underestimate my power," he said, darkly. I raised my eyebrows.

"Really now? What is the name for the crystal structure of Sodium chloride?" Cain's eyes widened a little, and he reached an arm out from under the blanket to grab his textbook.

"Uh, it's… uh…" I grinned.

"Mhm, exactly." I reached up and grabbed the textbook from him, flipping to the page where it talked about crystal structures. Finding the passage I was looking for, I held it up to Cain. "See here? It's cubic."

"See? You didn't know it, either!" He accused. I rolled my eyes.

"Idiot, I did know! I took this class last year! I was just showing you…" He snortled.

"Alright, alright, Mr. A-list," he retorted. "Should I be writing down anything about these 'cubic structures'?"

"Yes. And triclinic structures, and monoclinic structures, and orthorhombic structures, and rhombohedral structures…"

"Whoa, wait, hold up!" exclaimed Cain, fumbling to get his notebook and pencil. "Just… let me write this down…"

* * *

By the time we had covered everything Cain needed to know for his exam, the sun was beginning to set. The light coming in through the window had diminished greatly, and we had been too lazy to turn on any other lights in the room, so the only source of light we had was the lamp that Cain had already had on when I first arrived. It cast an yellow-orange glow on everything in our little corner of the room, and I couldn't help but notice how it gave Cain's tan skin an amber look to it. Realizing that I was probably staring, though, I quickly turned my gaze away from him.

"What are you doing for Thanksgiving?" I asked, leaning back on my hands. He shrugged.

"Staying here and eating all of Praxis' food, probably," he said. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Why's that?" I asked. He gave a soft sigh.

"I can't exactly go home," he said quietly.

"Why not? Where's home for you?"

"St. Petersburg," he said, adjusting the duvet around him. It had fallen off the top of his head and down to his shoulders. Getting frustrated slightly, he resorted to laying on his stomach with the blanket draped over him.

"Pennsylvania?" I asked. He laughed and shook his head.

"Russia." My eyes widened in surprise.

"You grew up in Russia?" He smiled and rested his face on his hands.

"Yep, I'm full-Russian."

"I didn't even know… you don't even have an accent or anything."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said with a wink. I grinned.

"I don't know. I think accents are pretty hot," I said, grin turning into a smirk. Cain let out a whistle.

"Oh, you like zat ven I talk like zis?" I snorted, trying to suppress my laughter.

"Actually, your normal voice is better." He smirked.

"That's what I thought," he muttered, his voice lowering. "Anyways, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Going home, I assume?" I nodded.

"Yeah, since I only live about an hour away, it's easy for me to go home and see family." He smiled down at me.

"You're lucky." I snorted.

"Not really. I'm not too fond of most of them," I admitted. "I'm the closest to my mom, and my dad is bearable most of the time, as long as I maintain my grades. All of my grandparents are dead, and my extended family isn't the greatest, so…"

"So I'm guessing family gatherings are kind of awkward for you?" I laughed softly.

"Yeah, pretty much. Plus I'm an only child, and I don't have any cousins that are around my age."

"If I were there, we could totally just ditch all of them," he joked, causing me to chuckle. "You could eat Thanksgiving dinner, get a little drunk, then get the fuck out."

"That's pretty much what I do already." I replied with a laugh, "Besides the getting drunk part, of course. My parents don't let me drink at home."

"Really?" Cain asked with surprise, "Not even a glass of wine or anything?" I shook my head.

"Not even that. For one thing, the wine my parents have is usually older than me and therefore very, very expensive, so they don't want me to waste it. Secondly, they don't want me to drink until I am old enough, otherwise it will be a 'slippery slope'." I explained. Cain raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Wow, you really are sheltered." he commented. I gave a small smile and stared directly at him.

"And I suppose you're gonna make it your mission to make sure I become completely corrupted?" He smirked down at me from his place on the bed.

"Maybe not completely, but yes, I'm gonna make sure you actually live a little…" he muttered, gazing at me. I only responded by staring into his dark eyes, finally realizing just how little space there was between his face and mine.

That was, until Cain closed that gap by pulling my chin up and pressing our lips together. This time, though, I wasn't caught off-guard. To be perfectly honest, I wanted him to kiss me. And, throwing all my cares out the window, I kissed him back. Moving so that I no longer needed my hands to support me, I intertwined them at the back of his neck, grabbing softly at his dark hair.

With expert precision, and not even having to break our kiss, Cain lifted me up onto the bed with him. I laid down, and he was immediately on top of me, caressing his hands up the sides of my torso. After another moment, he separated our mouths so that he could trail his kisses down to my jaw and neck.

"Cain…" I muttered as he started to lift my shirt up, "...how far are we going to go?" I asked. Cain stopped what he was doing for a moment to gaze at me.

"Don't worry, Princess, I won't do anything you're not ready for." He kissed my stomach, just above the hem of my jeans. "You just let me do all the work for now."

I sat up slightly as he lifted my shirt up over my head. He pressed his lips back to mine as he threw it across the room, forgotten. I groaned when he moved his lips down to the base of my neck. He bit down on the soft skin and smirked against it when I flinched. That's going to leave a mark, I thought to myself. I tugged at his dark hair and gripped the fabric of his shirt tightly when he moved lower and grazed a nipple with his teeth.

My fingers slid through his hair as he trailed kisses down my abdomen slowly. I gasped as he kissed my erection through the denim fabric that was holding it hostage.

"Shit, Cain," I moaned, pulling harder at his hair. I felt him chuckle and glanced down at him. He grinned and stared at me through his eyelashes. I shivered as he slid his fingers down my sides and rested on my hips for a moment before moving to unbutton and unzip my jeans. My heartbeat was pounding heavily as he pulled down both my jeans and my boxers in a swift motion, releasing my erection.

I hissed a bit at the unexpected rush of cold air on the sensitive area, but the discomfort did not last long. With one last glance up at me, Cain slid a hand up to grasp the base of my cock, while he leaned in and began licking the tip. I gave a loud moan and threw my head back against his pillow at the sudden wave of pleasure.

All at once, I was completely at his mercy. I could only moan and pant and say his name as he sucked and kissed and licked me. I was helpless, but I fucking loved it. I loved not knowing what he was going to do next. I loved moaning "There," when he sucked somewhere especially nice. I loved every bit of it.

And what I loved the most was when he managed to put the entire thing in his mouth.

"Ah!" I cried in surprise. I had almost come from him just doing that. As he came back up for air, I could see a smirk plastered on his face.

"You like that?" he asked, his hot breath hitting the tip of my cock. I could only groan softly in response.

"Then you're gonna love this…" he muttered before engulfing my entire erection in his mouth once more. I let out another loud moan, but this time, Cain moaned too. I could hear it.

And, dear, sweet God, I could feel it too. The vibrations of his humming brought even more pleasure, and I could feel myself getting closer and closer to release.

"Ah, Cain…" I moaned down to him, "I'm… I think I'm gonna…" Before I could finish, though, I was interrupted.

"What the hell is this?" exclaimed a loud voice suddenly from the other side of the room. I quickly looked over to find Praxis standing in the doorway, a shocked expression on his face. "Waht the fuck?!"

I bolted upright and felt my cheeks start to burn up. Cain got up on his haunches and glared at his roommate, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. I hastily pulled up my boxers and jeans and zipped them back up before covering my face with my hands in embarrassment.

"I locked the fucking door for a fucking reason, Praxis. Learn to fucking knock," he snapped. Praxis gave Cain a look of disgust.

"Why the hell would I knock on my own fucking door?" Praxis asked, throwing his bag on his desk and falling into his chair. Cain mumbled something under his breath in what I assumed was Russian. Standing up, he snatched my shirt up off the floor and tossed it to me.

"Maybe if you weren't such an asshole-" Cain started. This isn't going to be good, I thought as I stood up and gathered the rest of my belongings.

"I'm the asshole?! You're the one who deliberately violated the roommate agreement!" Praxis shouted.

"Fuck the roommate agreement," Cain snapped. "It's bullshit, anyways." Praxis glared at him.

"I liked it better when you weren't ever around," he said. Cain snorted and handed me my hoodie off of the back of his chair.

"Well, get the fuck over it," Cain said. Looking at me he sighed and rubbed his temples. I gave him a sympathetic look. Without a word, he and I walked through the door and out into the hallway. Cain pulled the door shut behind himself. Turning, I looked up at him.

"Sorry about that," he said with a groan. "He's a fuckass." I laughed slightly.

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "I know how it feels to not get along with your roommate." He took a step closer to me and put a hand on my cheek. I leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering closed.

"We should do that again sometime. Hopefully without any interruptions," he whispered, leaning closer to me. I smiled and raised my lips to his. Pulling back a second later, I grinned.

"I agree," I said with a wink. I was about to turn to walk away when I remembered something. "Oh, before I go…"

"What, you wanna find someplace where we can finish this now? I hear the bushes aren't too bad." I chuckled and shook my head.

"Well, it does sound tempting… But I wanted to ask if maybe you'd like to come home with me over Thanksgiving break? Since you aren't able to go home and I would like someone to keep me company." Cain raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You really want me to?" he asked. I nodded fervently.

"Yeah, I do." After a moment, his look of surprise changed to one of happiness.

"That sounds great," he responded, smiling down at me.

"Good," I replied before waving goodbye to him. I turned and walked down the hallway, the butterflies in my stomach going full-force.


	6. Cain 3

Chapter 6

Cain

It had taken me awhile to realize what Abel had actually asked when he invited me to go home with him over Thanksgiving break. The entire ordeal meant that I was going to be meeting his family, seeing where he grew up, learning even more about him. In all honesty, it was nerve-wracking. It was hard for me to get to know people on deep levels, but somehow, for some reason, Abel made it easy. I knew he wanted me to be in his life more. But the only downside was that I was having a hard time opening up to him in the same way. But it wasn't a huge issue, right? I mean, he and I weren't even officially 'dating'. Our relationship for the moment was strictly that of a tutor and tutee who also happened to be getting frisky with one another. I sighed, taking a drag from my cigarette. I didn't want to think about it right now.

I was making my way through campus to meet Abel outside the Beta Omega house, where his dad would be picking us up. The late-November air was chilly, and I could feel the tingle of cold on my face as I walked with my duffel bag in hand.

Within several more minutes, I was in front of the chapter house. Surprised to find Abel already waiting for me on the cold stone steps of the front porch, I smiled down at him.

"You could have waited inside for me, you know," I said, putting out my cigarette butt.

"It's not all that cold," he replied with a laugh. "Plus my dad should be here in just a few minutes."

"Pssh, not that cold?" I said, reaching a hand up to caress Abel's face. "Your cheeks are all red. And you're shivering." He shrugged and rubbed his gloved hands together. Sighing, I put my bag down on the ground and shrugged off my leather jacket. I draped it across his shoulders and sat on the steps next to him. He looked at me with a confused look.

"Aren't you cold?"

"...I'm Russian," I replied with a snort.

"Oh," he said, trying to stifle a laugh. "So that means you're immune to the cold?"

"It just means that I'm used to much colder temperatures. This?" I gestured to the sky, "This is spring weather."

"Alright, alright," Abel said, "Just let me know if you get too cold."

"Then we would be waiting here all day," I said with a smirk. He smiled at the retort, and after a moment he spoke up again.

"So, before you meet my parents, I wanted to talk with you."

"What about?"

"I just was hoping you might… tone down the attitude a little. At least, around them. You don't have to for me, of course."

"Well, shit. I was really looking forward to being a sass master this week…"

"You also can't curse," he said, sighing. I frowned. "They're not very accepting of that sort of thing."

"Not surprising, considering how much it took to get you to swear."

"I won't be swearing around them either, obviously," he explained, "Just… let them know all the good things about you. Your major, your accomplishments… do everything you can to impress them."

"Am I trying to get them into the sack with me or something?" I joked.

"No, anything but that!" he exclaimed, waving his hands anxiously. I let out a loud laugh.

"Now that would be something." He chuckled slightly before abruptly looking down at his phone. He swiped his finger across the screen and raised it to his ear.

"Hello? … No we're outside. … Yeah, Beta Omega. … Yeah, I see you. … Alright. Bye, Dad." He ended the call and stuffed his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. Standing up, he grabbed his backpack and looked down at me. "You ready?" I nodded and got up from the cold cement.

Looking towards the street, I saw a black Porsche pull up. With an impressed whistle, I shouldered my bag and followed Abel up to the vehicle.

"Hi, dad," Abel greeted his father as he and I both shuffled into the back seat. I sat on the driver's side and shut the door behind me.

"So, this is the friend you mentioned?" his dad said, looking at us through the rear-view mirror. He had a very similar facial structure to Abel, but his was stronger, more angular, and obviously much more aged. His hair was nearly white, he wore thick-rimmed glasses, and had facial hair. His eyes, though, rather than being dark like his son's, were a piercing pale gray. And, as he looked at me, I could tell what Abel had meant when he said that his parents weren't very accepting. His father immediately gave off a judgmental aura, so much so that I could almost hear him listing off the things that he didn't like about me. In fact, he probably was, just not out loud. I smirked.

"Yes, hello, Mister…?" I asked. Abel's father frowned and looked away.

"Just call me 'Professor'," he replied bluntly as he shifted the car out of park and started off down the road, "It's what I tell all my students to call me." Being sure that he wasn't watching, I shrugged and looked over at Abel, who was obviously nervous.

"This is Cain," he explained politely, "He's the one I have been tutoring for the past few weeks."

"Really? Pity that he would need tutoring in the first place." I saw Abel wince a little at the rude comment.

"Yes, but he has been doing a lot better since I've been helping him."

"Well of course, with you as his tutor, it's only natural," the Professor chuckled.

"I did learn from the best," he said with a nod, only bothering to half-smile. I'm not sure if his father could see past how fake the compliment was, but it seemed to appease him.

"So, Cain, are you an engineering major, then?" the Professor asked.

"Yes, sir. Mechanical engineering," I responded, nodding and glancing at Abel, "I'm just a freshman, though."

"Have you declared a minor?" The Professor was keen on interrogating me.

"Russian," I answered confidently with another nod as I met his gaze in the rearview mirror.

"And what exactly do you plan on accomplishing with a minor in Russian?" I frowned. I clearly understood why Abel was not too fond of him.

"Well, I figured that since I was born in Russia that I would get a minor in it," I replied, "My advisor said that it would help with international business relations, and would give me an advantage on my resumé that others wouldn't normally have."

"Hm, that's true. Your advisor was probably right." With a grin, I turned back to face Abel. After a short pause, his father spoke up again.

"Abel, I saw earlier that you were getting a low A in your aerospace course," The Professor said, turning the conversation back to his son. I saw Abel tense up and frown.

"I know. I'm working on getting it back up," Abel said, avoiding his father's gaze.

"You're obviously not trying hard enough. I expect it to be back above ninety-five percent before finals roll around," he said in a stern tone. Abel nodded.

"Yes, sir," Abel responded in a soft voice. All at once, I regretted everything I had ever said about Abel being a nerd. It wasn't even of his own accord, but rather so that his father wouldn't become angry with him.

"You know I only want you to be at your best," explained the Professor. I gave a soft growl, just enough so that he couldn't hear me from the front seat. I could obviously tell that he was giving half-assed excuses to make it seem like he was being like this for Abel's sake. It was evident, though, that he was doing this for himself: living his life through his son. Knowing that Abel wouldn't want me to speak up, though, I let it go. And, thankfully, so did the Professor.

We spent the rest of the hour-long car ride in silence, Abel's dad unspeaking as he drove down the freeway, and Abel and I happily sharing the earbuds of Abel's iPod. In the midst of the quiet, I looked over to Abel. His expression was solemn, and he appeared to be lost in his thoughts. Without saying anything, I slid my hand over to cover his, and with a small smile, he shook his head slightly.

"Not here," he mouthed to me, eyes darting to his father. I nodded in understanding and withdrew my hand, placing it on my own knee instead.

After what had almost seemed like ages, we finally pulled into the driveway of a huge brick house. And, when I say that it was huge, there was no exaggeration. Seriously, the thing had fucking gates. I was in awe as we pulled into a four car garage.

"Well someone obviously lives on the nice side of the tracks," I mumbled so that only Abel could hear

"Come on," he said with a soft chuckle, opening his door once his dad had turned the engine off. "I want you to meet my mother." I gulped slightly. If his mother was half as strict as his father, I could maybe make it through the week without wanting to punch myself in the face.

I climbed out of the car and gently shut the door behind me. I walked around to the back of the vehicle and stood next to Abel as we got our bags out of the trunk. I bumped our hips together gently and turned to grin at him. He gave me an open-mouthed smile, feigning a look of offense. I winked at him before looking around to make sure his parents weren't in sight. Upon realization that his father had already entered the house, I grabbed his waist and pulled him close to me. I bent down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. He pulled back and sighed. I grinned at him and leaned in close.

"Your dad's a great big bag of dicks," I whispered. He gasped and looked around.

"Shhh. Cain," he warned quietly. With a chuckle I swung my bag over my shoulder as he shut the trunk. We made our way to the door. Just before we climbed the three steps up to the door, though, I reached my hand over and grabbed his ass. He yelped in surprise and smacked my arm.

"Stop it!"

"Couldn't resist." I shrugged and smirked at him. He glared at me and put his hand on the doorknob.

"Be nice," he whispered and twisted the knob, opening the door. When we stepped inside, he turned to me. "Take off your shoes." I did so and placed them next to his on the floor. Standing back up, I looked around to take in my surroundings.

Unsurprisingly, the inside of the house was just as impressive as the outside. The floors were cherry hardwood, and the ceilings had to be at least fifteen feet above us. There was a staircase that led down to a basement that, from what I could see, seemed to be half-finished.

I followed Abel through the hallway and into the open kitchen. He sat his bag down on the floor next to the marble-topped island and walked up to the woman standing at the stove.

"Oh, Abel, sweetie!" she exclaimed, immediately kissing him on the cheek and pulling him into a hug. Looking at the two of them, I could tell right away that I liked her more than her husband.

She, too, had pale hair, and Abel's dark eyes. On the other hand, though, she was shorter than him, but only slightly. Releasing him from her embrace, she turned to face me, a smile still present on her face.

"And you must be Abel's friend!" she said, approaching me.

"Nice to meet you, Mis-" before I could finish the sentence, however, she walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug as well. I gave Abel a look of confusion, and was unable to hug her back due to the fact that I still had my bag in hand. Pulling away, she laughed to herself.

"Helen, dear. Call me Helen," she said with a warm smile. Turning to Abel, she adjusted my jacket on his shoulders. "When did you get this?" she asked him.

"Oh!" I watched as a blush rose to his cheeks. "It's Cain's. I got cold while waiting for Dad and he let me borrow it." She glanced at me and formed an 'o' with her mouth.

"Well, you best get your things up to your room and get washed up. Elena and I almost have dinner ready," she said as she patted his shoulders. He nodded and walked back over to me. Picking up his bag, he motioned for me to follow him.

He lead me through a large, open living room with incredibly soft carpet. There was a large, black, grand piano in one of the corners. The far wall was entirely made of windows and I could see out into the deck and vast backyard. The ceiling was even higher in this room, and I could see up to the second floor.

We climbed the stairs to the second level and walked straight up to a set of wooden double doors. Abel put his hands on the handles of both, and pushed, opening them to reveal what was obviously his room. The furniture inside was very modern, and everything was extremely tidy. On one side of the room was his large, queen sized bed, closet, and tv stand, while on the other side was a desk and bookshelf. In addition to these things, though, there was also a large 10-gallon tank on a dresser towards the back of the room. As I walked further into the room, I realized that inside the tank was a large green reptile.

"You have a motherfucking lizard?" I asked Abel in disbelief as soon as he had closed the doors. He nodded.

"It's an iguana," he said. "His name's Gary."

"Gary? Are you fucking serious?" I asked before busting into laughter. "Holy shit, you are something else."

"What? Gary's awesome," he said with a smile.

"Whatever you say," I said, tossing my backpack onto the floor. He put his next to the closet door and walked back over to his bed. Flopping down on it, he moaned lightly.

"I really missed my bed," he said, putting his hands behind his head. I smirked as he gave a heavy sigh and stared up at the ceiling.

"Is it comfy?" I asked, inching more towards the bed. Abel turned to look at me and gave a small smile.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered as he sat up on the mattress.

"Oh, no reason," I said, sitting down next to him. "Just curious."

"I think you're lying about that," he replied, laughing quietly as he leaned in closer to me, "I think there's a different reason why you want to know."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, pretending to sound hurt, "I have only the noblest of intentions."

"Of course you do," Abel retorted, his voice getting quieter. I was about to come up with another smart comeback, but Abel silenced me by quickly pressing his lips to mine. Before I could react, he pulled back and stood up.

"We need to get ready for dinner," he said, crossing the room to open another door, which I assumed led into the bathroom. I sighed, disappointed that we couldn't get away with more than a few kisses while his parents were in the house. I sighed and flopped back on the bed. Looking up at the slanted ceiling, I noticed several white dots painted on the dark blue base coat. I heard the door to the bathroom open and, shortly thereafter, Abel laid next to me.

"What'cha looking at?" he inquired, following my gaze.

"What's with the dots on the ceiling?" I wondered. They didn't seem to be following a pattern, and it was curious.

"I mapped the stars and painted them up there," he answered with a chuckle. I turned to look at him.

"You mapped the stars?" I asked in amazement. Calm down, Galileo.

"Yes. Yes I did," he said, nodding with a triumphant grin plastered on his face.

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm fascinated by space. Someday, I want to work for NASA, which is why I'm studying aerospace engineering," he said, shrugging. He stood up and held a hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me up off the bed.

"So you want to be an astronaut?" I asked, smirking down at him.

"Maybe some day," he replied. "Come on, let's go downstairs. Mom and Elena are probably done cooking by now."

"I thought you said you were an only child," I said. He nodded and opened one of the doors into the hallway.

"I am. Elena's our maid," he said. I stopped and stared at him. He turned around and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"You have a fucking maid?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah…" he nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face. I shook my head and followed him down the stairs and into the dining room. I was hit with the sudden realization of just how different we were. This week was going to be something of a culture shock for me and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it.

* * *

As Abel and I ate dinner in the vast dining room with his parents, they continued to ask me various questions. I figured they would, but that didn't mean that the near-interrogation wasn't starting to get on my nerves a little. But, with what Abel had asked of me pricking the back of my mind, I endured. However, some questions were beginning to hit a little too close to home.

"So, Cain, I bet you have a girlfriend, am I right?" Abel's dad said as he cut his steak into small pieces. I nearly spat out my drink.

"Uh," I started, wiping my mouth with the soft, cotton napkin. "No, actually. I guess I haven't found the right person." As I said this, I dared to make a quick glance over to Abel, just to see how he would react, and, just as I expected, he visually tensed up a little, and a tinge of pink appeared on his face. I smirked.

"Well, you will certainly meet a lot of people during your college years," the Professor muttered, "You're bound to find someone eventually."

"I sure hope so," I replied confidently, taking another sip of my water.

"I'm sure you'll have no problem finding a nice girl, Cain," Abel's mother chimed in. "I'll bet you have tons of girls flocking to you." The irony was almost too much to bear.

"That's nice of you to say, Helen, but it's not really true. I'm kind of picky when it comes to relationships," I explained.

"Really? What's your type, then?" Abel asked, staring me dead in the eye. Right now? It's you, dumbass… I thought to myself. My eyes narrowed slightly and I set my glass back down on the table. I wasn't going to let him fluster me. With a smirk, I spoke up, attempting to throw the ball back into his court.

"Well, I really like light hair. A blonde, maybe? Looks aren't everything, though, I know. I would like her to be smart and kind, but still have a fire about her. I admit, I'm pretty stubborn, so I would like someone who is able to balance that out," I answered. "I feel like I need someone who is nearly the opposite of me, rather than in other cases where people try to find someone with so many similarities. I would like someone to keep me grounded and to teach me how to become a better person. I know that they would feel like being around me was difficult most of the time, since I'm so hard-headed, but I would make up for it. I would cherish them: take them around the world, show them the stars, and treat them like the princess they deserve to be," I finished and glanced around the table. Helen gave a small gasp and lifted a hand to her heart.

"That's so sweet, Cain," she said with a smile. "Your wife will be so lucky to have you, dear." Abel's dad gave a 'hmf' from across the table.

"Well, that sounds all well and good when you say it, but that's not how it works in reality. You won't have time to travel the world; you will have to work at least five days a week." I frowned, knowing already in my mind where this was going. "And no matter how 'perfect' the woman may seem for you, there will always be disagreements between the pair of you. It's inevitable, considering she will most likely start thinking that you need to actually fight for her or nonsense like that. Which is why women have to be taught their place in a marriage." I flinched. Did I hear him correctly? Clenching my fist beneath the tabletop, Abel slid his hand over to touch mine in a silent plea. Knowing he wouldn't want me to go apeshit on his dad at the dinner table, nor anywhere for that matter, I breathed in deeply, and managed to suppress my anger.

"How's work going, Dad?" Abel asked, changing the topic quickly. As his father gave some dreary and pessimistic response, I blocked it out and let my mind wander as I finished everything on my plate.

After we got done eating and helping his parents clear the table, Abel and I headed back up to his bedroom. Closing the doors behind us, Abel gave a heavy sigh.

"I'm beginning to think it was a bad idea to bring you home with me…" Turning to face him, I put a hand on his shoulder and shook my head.

"No, I am glad you asked me." He looked up at me and gave me a small smile. "And believe me, I have had to deal with worse people than your dad. And, on the bright side, you mom's really cute."

"Don't you dare think of trying to get with my mom," he muttered as he furrowed his eyebrows. I couldn't help but let out a loud laugh.

"You really think I would?!" I exclaimed. "It's possible I might, but no. She does remind me of someone I do want to get with though…" I muttered, stepping closer to him so that he was trapped directly between me and the door. Placing my arms on either side of him so he couldn't escape, I leaned in forward so much that our noses were touching.

"Cain, I don't want my parents to hear or walk in on us…" he muttered, a tinge of worry present in his voice.

"I know, I know…" I muttered, maintaining our closeness. "Just… one for now…" I whispered before closing the gap between our lips. Abel moaned quietly into the kiss, reassuring me that he still wanted it.

However, it didn't turn out to just be one kiss. As I pulled away, Abel, despite his worries about his parents, grabbed the fabric of my t-shirt and pulled me back in, smashing our lips together forcefully. Smirking into the kiss, I gave a low growl and slid one of my legs in between his, pressing into his erection that was starting to show. He moaned, and as he slid his fingers up into my hair, I placed my hands on his slim waist, sliding them under the fabric of his shirt so that I could feel the soft skin beneath.

"Ugh… I want you so fucking bad…" I whispered to him as we looked each other in the eyes.

"I do too…" he muttered, turning away and looking forlornly at the carpeted floor. After a moment, though, his expression changed. Rather than looking solemn, which was how he had been nearly all day, probably due to the presence of his father, he instead looked determined.

"Cain…" he spoke up, gazing back at me, "...let's go to the movies."

"Um, okay, if you want to," I replied with a raised eyebrow as I let my arms fall back to my sides. "But what do you wanna go see?"

"Doesn't matter," Abel replied, walking over to his desk to grab his hoodie. "I just wanna go somewhere where we can have a little privacy."

"Sounds good to me," I responded as I suddenly realized what he meant. Grinning, I quickly grabbing my leather jacket. "Let's go."

After a hurried goodbye to his father, and after telling his mother where we were going, Abel led me into the huge garage and up to a brand-new red Mustang. I stared at the vehicle in awe.

"That's one sexy car…" I muttered.

"Glad you think so," he replied with a laugh, sliding into the driver's seat. I smirked. I could definitely get used to this.

Getting into the passenger seat next to him, Abel and I rode down to the movie theater, bought our tickets (we picked some action flick because then nobody would hear us with all the explosions), and chose a pair of seats all the way in the back of the theater.

"Cain," Abel said after we got situated, "Where are your parents?" The question surprised me.

"Why?"

"Well, I just hope that they are nicer than my father," he said, propping his feet up on the seat in front of us.

"I don't really know," I confessed. He turned and looked at me, confused.

"What do you mean you don't know?" He asked.

"I never knew them. My earliest memories have all been with my grandmother," I said quietly. "The only time I had any contact with my parents was when they sent gifts on my birthday and Christmas." What am I saying? I wondered to myself. I was very protective of the secrets of my past and had never talked about this with anyone before, but something about Abel made me spill almost everything.

"Did she raise you, then?" He asked, shifting to a more comfortable position in his seat. I nodded.

"All the way up until I was fifteen."

"What happened when you turned fifteen?" I inhaled deeply and turned to look at him.

"She passed away," I said. I can still remember when I got the news. I regretted everything about our last conversation and I never got the chance to say how sorry I was. The memory still stung.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Cain…" he muttered, obviously regretting that he asked. I shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, Princess, it's okay. People die. Especially old people." He gave a small laugh at the last part. "I just had to learn to be on my own from then on."

"What did you do after she died?" Abel asked. I stiffened up. His questions were starting to hit a little too close.

"I… don't want to talk about it," I muttered. "Just know that I am fine now." After a pause, Abel nodded and changed the subject.

"I think I know how you feel," Abel replied to me. "About being alone, I mean. I have been on my own a lot too. Obviously not without parents, though, but something similar."

"You have friends here, though, don't you?" I asked.

"Sure, I have people I graduated from high school with that I will say hi to when I bump into them, but nobody that actually goes out of their way to hang out with me." realizing that he really didn't have anyone here.

"Abel…" I muttered, realizing that he really didn't have anyone here. Frowning, I placed a hand on his knee. "I am here with you." Looking directly into my eyes, he smiled.

"I know, thank you." Leaning in close, he and I met one another with a kiss as the movie started. And for the entire time, until nearly two hours later when the credits started rolling, we refused to let go of each other.

After we returned from the movie, it was already almost eleven o'clock, and the house was dark, meaning that Abel's parents had probably already gone to bed. Silently, he and I tiptoed up the stairs and changed into our pajamas. To be blatantly honest, though, as he took off his pants and switched his normal shirt for one that was obviously a couple sizes too big, I couldn't help but stare from my spot on the floor at his flawless bared skin. Usually, pale skin wasn't all that attractive, but with Abel it worked. It definitely worked. My mind suddenly was filled with thoughts of caressing the small of his back, kissing his shoulders, and giving him hickeys all over his neck and collarbone so that everyone in the world would know he was mine.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, breaking me from my dirty thoughts. I looked up at him and blinked.

"Uh…" For once I couldn't come up with snarky comeback. With a small chuckle, Abel reached his hand out and helped me up from the floor.

"Come on, perv, we have to set up the air mattress for you." I frowned.

"You mean I'm not sleeping with you?" I frowned.

"O-of course not!" he stuttered, a blush creeping up to his cheeks. "If that wouldn't give us away to my parents, I don't know what will."

"Well if they saw us getting freaky then they could probably figure it out right away…"

"Cain!" Abel exclaimed. I laughed, following him as he stomped over to his closet.

"Kidding, just kidding," I replied as he opened the sliding wooden doors. Looking up to the top shelf, Abel sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He turned to look at me.

"That rolled up thing on the top shelf is the mattress, and I can't reach it." After pausing to process what he meant, I couldn't help but snort with laughter.

"You mean you're too short?" I asked through my laughter.

"Hey! I'm five feet six inches! That's not short; that's pretty average," he responded with a frown.

"Pff, maybe for a woman." He frowned.

"Oh, and what are you, like six feet?" Abel said, scoffing.

"Close. I'm five-eleven," I replied with a grin.

"Whatever, can you just please be a gentleman for once and help me get the fucking air mattress?" he snapped after rolling his eyes.

"Damn, watch your mouth," I said, mocking him. Turning back to face the shelves, I only had to get on my tip-toes to reach the rolled-up mattress, and after getting it down I handed it to Abel with a smirk.

Within about ten minutes, the mattress was all set up on the floor right next to Abel's bed. With a sigh I flopped down onto it, still melancholy over the fact that I couldn't sleep in Abel's queen bed with him.

"Here you go," Abel said happily as he tossed a pillow and twin-sized duvet at me. "If you need any extra blankets, there are some in the bottom drawer underneath Gary's tank."

"Thanks," I muttered, wrapping myself in the comfy fabric. With a smile, Abel crawled onto his own bed, and was about to reach to turn off the bedside lamp until I lifted my hand up to grab his.

"W-what's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing's wrong," I replied to him. "I wanted to hold you, but since I can't do that, I guess this will have to work." I pulled his hand down and gently kissed the back of it. He smiled down at me from his place on the bed, where he lay on his stomach, nearly hanging off the edge.

"Goodnight, Cain," he whispered, eyes fluttering closed.

"Goodnight, Princess," I said, keeping hold of his hand. The last thing I saw before I, too, drifted off to sleep was his smiling face.


	7. Abel 4

**WARNING: This chapter gets pretty graphic. ;)**

**Chapter 7**

**Abel**

* * *

I woke up to the sound of knocking on my bedroom door. I groaned slightly and stuffed my face into my pillow. As hard as I tried to will the knocking away, it persisted. With a sigh, I turned my head to the door and yawned.

"Who is it?" I asked, snuggling back into the comfort of my bed. My eyes snapped open and I sat up as the door opened, allowing Elena walked in. "Hey!" She smiled at me.

"Oh, Abel, you don't have anything I haven't seen before, sweetheart," she said and I felt a blush creep up to my cheeks. Looking down at the floor, her eyes widened. "Oh, my. I forgot you had company!" I looked at her confused until Cain sat up in bed. Oh, yeah… I had forgotten about him, too. He turned around to look at me as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"This is Elena," I said, gesturing to the older woman holding a stack of clean towels. She walked into the bathroom to put away the linens. He nodded.

"Nice to meet you," he said. Turning to me, he smirked. "So you don't have anything that she hasn't seen before?" I glared at him and Elena came back into the bedroom.

"Of course not! I changed his diapers, after all," she said with a warm smile. I groaned loudly and fell back on the bed. I covered my face with a pillow and heard Cain snort with laughter.

"Elena, please," I mumbled through the pillow. She giggled.

"Well, anyways, just let me know when you two are finished getting ready, then I can get to tidying up your room." With that, she exited back into the hallway, leaving Cain and me alone again.

"She cleans your fucking room for you?" he asked in awe. I sighed as I slipped out of bed, the cold air giving me a few goosebumps.

"Yeah, it's part of her job," I replied. "Thankfully, though, she doesn't move any of my stuff. She just vacuums and dusts and uses Febreze to make it smell nice and that's about it."

"You really live the high life, don't you?" Cain asked as he struggled to get up off the air mattress. I chuckled.

"Compared to most, yes. It's not my fault though; my dad is a professor, as you already know, and mom is a surgeon." Cain's eyes widened.

"Dude, she must make fucking bank."

"Yeah, both her and dad do, so that's why we have all these nice things."

"Would you ever be able to live lesser than this?" Cain asked. I thought a moment before replying.

"Probably, yes. I don't need mustangs or flat-screens or maids or 4-car garages. They're just objects." Cain smiled.

"That's pretty deep, Princess," he said before disappearing into the bathroom. Looking down at my feet, I sighed. It was true that I didn't need material things, because the things that I craved the most were not tangible.

By the time Cain and I had had showered and changed out of our pajamas, Mom and Elena had breakfast on the table. As we entered the dining room, I noticed that my dad was nowhere to be seen. I assumed that he was in his study, probably grading papers. We took our seats at the table and Mom placed a couple of plates in front of us that were filled with bacon, toast, and scrambled eggs. Cain gawked at all the food like it was a gift from God, and I couldn't help but chuckle as he tried figuring out what to eat first.

As he and I ate, though, my father came down the stairs and joined us at the kitchen table. He opened up his newspaper as he spoke over to Mom.

"Helen, have you told Abel what we're doing today?" he asked my mother. With a confused expression, I turned to face her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, setting a plate down at the table for my father. "I had almost forgotten. We are going to visit your aunt Penelope today for an early dinner, since she can't make the trip over here for Thanksgiving." I tried not to wince at the mention of my aunt.

Out of all the relatives I had, she was the worst. She was a highly conservative woman (like my father) who worked for some huge insurance company. She was one of those people whose job was her entire life, and made sure to tell me on multiple occasions that she thought my dream of working for NASA was foolish and petty.

In addition, I hated the way she treated me; she would feign being nice in front of me, but then when talking to my parents she would always list off the things that were 'wrong' with me, whether it be the way I dress, the fact that my hair was too long for her liking (not to mention she hated the yellow-green streaks I had), or that I never seemed to say "thank you" enough times for her to be satisfied. All in all, she was a total wench.

"Uh, by 'we' do you just mean you two?" I asked my parents. In my mind I was praying to every god in the universe that they didn't plan on making me go. My father tilted his newspaper down so he could look me straight in the face.

"Of course not. You're free, aren't you? Would you seriously rather laze around the house rather than go and see your aunt? I'm sure she wouldn't like that." I looked over at my mother.

"Well, you see, I woke up with a really bad headache, and I'm feeling a bit dizzy…" I lied. A worried expression appeared on Mom's face, and in my peripheral vision I could see Cain smirk, obviously aware of the fact that I was lying through my teeth.

"Oh, dear, do you need any medicine?" she asked with concern. I slowly shook my head.

"No, I took some earlier." My father sighed from across the table.

"That's what staying up so damned late at night will do to you, son," he chided.

"I know, Dad. Sorry," I muttered in response. Looking over to Cain, I saw him give me a wink, and I couldn't help but smile a little.

My parents accepted my excuse, and after we had all finished eating, they got ready to leave.

"You just take it easy, okay, hon?" my mother said as she and my father put their jackets and shoes on in the garage. "I left twenty dollars for food on the fridge for you, since I don't expect we will be back until after dark." I smiled.

"Thanks, Mom," I said, pulling her into a hug. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Be safe."

"Don't worry, I will," I replied, waving goodbye as she and my father got into the Porsche.

After they disappeared down the street, I returned into the house, only to find Cain waiting for me in the hallway. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and a smirk on his face.

"Well, what do you want to do now?" he asked in a low voice. I felt my face heat up, but quickly turned away from him and headed down the stairs to the basement.

"Let's watch a movie," I responded bluntly. Cain, obviously a little downhearted, followed me.

"Okay, but where are we going?" he asked curiously. I grinned.

"You'll see."

Leading him down the dark stairwell, I opened a pair of double doors which led into the only finished room we had in the basement. This room, too, was pitch black, but when I finally managed to reach the light switch and illuminate the room, Cain was awestruck.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," was all he could say. The room was our home theater, complete with a ten-foot-tall projector screen at the back, a handful of the comfiest reclining chairs that money could buy, and a tiny popcorn machine and a mini-fridge filled with refreshments in the corner to the left of us. And finally, to the right, the deal was sealed with a floor-to-ceiling shelf holding hundreds of movie titles. Glancing over at it, Cain immediately made his way over to gaze at all the lined-up DVD cases.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" he exclaimed. I let out a laugh.

"It's overkill, right?" I replied. He vigorously shook his head.

"No, this is awesome!" Cain said. He started shuffling through all the DVD cases, trying to pick what he wanted to watch. I leaned on the back of one of the seats across from the shelf, watching patiently as he did so.

"Holy shit, you have Pacific Rim?!" he yelled out suddenly. I giggled.

"Yeah, I asked Elena to buy that and some others for me when they finally came out on DVD. She always does that for me."

"So are all of these yours?" Cain asked, grabbing the DVD case and meandering over to me. I smiled.

"Yep. I love movies." Cain chuckled.

"Well, I love that you love movies," he replied as he wrapped his free arm around my waist.

"Good, I'm glad," I muttered as I stared up into his eyes. Just as he was about to lean in for a kiss, I snatched the DVD case from him and escaped his embrace, skipping over to the media cabinet so we could watch it.

"Come on!" I beckoned to him. "Take a seat." Sighing heavily, Cain obliged, and flopped onto the two-person reclining couch. After putting the DVD in, I turned the lights off and took my spot right next to Cain, who slunk his arm around my shoulders.

"So you really like this movie?" I asked him as the movie was starting. He smirked.

"Hell yes, have you seen the suits they wear in the robots? They're sexy as hell."

* * *

After the movie was over, I snuggled farther back against Cain and rested my head against his chest. I listened to the faint beating of his heart as I laced our fingers together. He nuzzled the top of my head and pulled me closer.

"Hey," he whispered. I tilted my head back and looked up at him.

"What?" I asked. He grinned down at me.

"You said you could play the piano?" he asked. I nodded in response. "You should go play me a song."

"If you insist, but we have to go upstairs," I said and stood up from our place on the floor and tugged on his hand to pull him up. Once he was on his feet, I dragged him up the stairs to the main floor. Stopping in the doorway to the living room, Cain slowly let my hand slip out of his as I smiled back at him and shuffled to the large grand piano in the corner. I pulled out the bench and sat down on it as Cain took a spot on the couch nearby. After adjusting my posture, I lightly placed my fingers on the black and white keys and pressed one of the pedals down with my bare foot. Taking a deep breath, I pressed the keys and played one of my favorite pieces. As my fingers danced across the keyboard, I saw Cain stand up and walk over. I scooted over on the bench to make room for him to sit next to me. He watched me with hazy look and was silent when I finished playing.

"What song was that?" he asked after a moment.

"Just something I wrote in high school," I said, pushing one of the white buttons down gently. He looked at me in awe.

"You wrote that?" I nodded. "It was fucking beautiful…"

"Thank you," I said with a laugh.

"You should teach me how to play something," he said. I gave him an odd look.

"O-okay," I said. I lifted my hand to the piano and pushed a key down. "Watch." I played a very slow, simple version of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. After going through it three times, I gestured to the piano, signaling to Cain that it was his turn. He raised his hand and played the right rhythm, but missed over half the notes. I let out a loud laugh and covered my mouth with my hand in an attempt to stifle it. He turned and glared at me.

"Hey! It's my first time! Don't be so rough on me!" He said with a frown.

"Sorry! It was… It was just so…" I tried to find a word that wouldn't offend him. He snickered.

"Horrific," he said. I nodded.

"Yes. It was horrific," I agreed. I giggled again, but quieted down quickly when I saw that he was just staring at me. "What?" I asked. Without responding, he tilted my chin up and pressed our lips together.

Closing my eyes, I melted into the kiss. With what seemed like no effort at all, he hoisted me up onto his lap, and trailed his kisses down from my mouth to my collarbone as he pulled at the collar of my t-shirt.

"Ahh…" I moaned as he sucked hard on the sensitive skin. Looking up at me, he slid his hand upwards to cup my cheek.

"You probably know this, but I have been wanting you ever since your parents left us in the house alone." I chuckled softly and nuzzled my face into his hand.

"I figured." I replied. Smirking, he sat up straight again and pulled me down into a more forceful kiss. I moaned, grabbing at the fabric of his shirt. As we continued to kiss and grab and caress each other, my mind proceeded to go blank. All I could think about was touching, feeling, and experiencing Cain.

After a minute or two, Cain pulled away from me so that he and I could both catch our breath, but not without maintaining some form of contact. He pressed his forehead to mine, and, pulling me forward by the hips, made it so that my torso was flush against his own. As he did this, though, I felt through my jeans that he and I were both extremely hard, and the friction between us was beginning to drive me crazy.

"Cain…" I whimpered as he rolled his hips slightly beneath me and slid his hands up underneath my shirt. "Please… I want you too." He looked up at me and I knew he didn't need any more permission than that.

In a sudden rush of movement, he lifted me off of his lap, stood up from the piano bench, and pulled me by the hand. With one more quick kiss, he lead me hurriedly up the stairs, nudged me into the bedroom, and closed the double doors behind us. Turning back to face me, he quickly slid off his shirt. I couldn't help but stare in awe at his tanned skin and watch his muscles as he breathed heavily. The moment was brief, though, and in another second his arms were around me again.

"Since when…have you been so hot?" I muttered as he slid his hands down under the denim of my jeans. Cain laughed as he kissed my neck.

"Always," he replied. "Glad you finally noticed." I chuckled softly, then moaned suddenly when he rolled his hips against mine.

"Fuck…" I muttered at the friction between both of our clothed erections. Cain brought his face up so it was even with mine again, and I saw him smirk.

"Watch your language," he mocked. I frowned in annoyance at him, but couldn't come up with a smart response, so I simply silenced him by pressing my lips to his. With a muffled laugh, he grabbed me and lifted me up. Wrapping my legs around his hips and my arms around the back of his neck, I refused to break our kisses as he walked over to the foot of my bed. He gently tossed me down onto the soft duvet, and crawled onto it after me, a grin plastered on his face.

"What are you so smiley for?" I muttered to him. He chuckled.

"Why do you think, Princess?" he responded, crawling so that he was directly on top of me. "I'm glad that we finally get to have some real alone time." I blushed and averted my gaze, but just ended up staring at his bare chest.

"I'm… nervous," I replied truthfully. Cain snorted.

"I know, you're shaking." I gasped and looked at my hand; and sure enough, he was right. Cain laughed lightly.

"Don't worry about it, Princess," he whispered to me. "You just leave it to me."

And just like that, when he leaned in again to kiss me, I immediately felt my worries diminish. I realized that thinking about it too much would only make the butterflies worse. I only needed to feel.

I suddenly gasped, though, when I felt Cain's hands pulling up at my shirt. However, realizing what he was doing, I happily helped him, and only separated my lips from his when he had to pull my shirt over my shoulders and head. Once the garment was off, Cain smirked and tossed it off to god knows where, and slid his hands up my freshly-bared skin.

It felt strange, having his bare chest squared right up against mine, but not in the bad way. In fact, I loved it. He was warm, and every so often I could feel the muscles of his torso tense up against my stomach. And it felt heavenly when he trailed his hand down to massage my erection through the fabric of my jeans.

As a wave of pleasure ran through me, I moaned against his lips, which only encouraged him to rub it more. I didn't just want him to touch me through the denim, though, and I slid my hand down to guide him towards the button of my pants. Thankfully, he got the hint, and expertly only had to use one hand to undo the button and zipper, and before I knew anything else, he had pulled down both my pants and boxers and tossed them aside as well.

It was in that moment, though, that I realized that I was fully naked in front of him. Not just shirtless and not just pantsless, but rather completely bare for him to see. I could feel my face heat up at the fact, and when Cain broke our kiss to sit upwards and gaze down at me, I had to look away from sheer embarrassment, earning a light laugh from him.

"Princess, you don't need to be so nervous," he said quietly. "Believe it or not, I know what a guy's body looks like." I frowned.

"Yeah, but… this is a first for me." He chuckled.

"I know, I can tell."

I was going to snap back at him, but before I could, he rose up and stood next to the bed, and in an instant he slid both his jeans and boxers off as well. I gasped, not only because I hadn't been expecting him to take off his pants so suddenly, but because I hadn't ever seen what he looked like beneath them. He smirked, looking down at me.

"Like what you see?" he asked in a cocky voice. I averted my gaze.

"No comment," I replied simply. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing exactly how badly I wanted him. I already told him I thought he was hot, and that was definitely enough to feed his ego for the rest of the week.

Feeling him rejoin me on the mattress, he kissed my neck and brought a hand up to caress my nipple.

"Just relax," he whispered into my ear.

I tried to reply, but instead moaned when he crawled on top of me again, and pressed our unclothed erections together.

"Ah, fuck!" I gasped as Cain wrapped his free hand around both of them and began stroking. He quickly silenced me though by forcing our lips together again, but I still couldn't help but moan with my mouth against his.

I could tell by his staggered breathing, though, that he was finally getting enjoyment out of it too, which was a relief. I was literally hopeless with trying to do anything pleasurable for him, but as I heard him moan for the first time through our mess of kisses and panting, I made sure to take a mental note to try next time.

For the moment, though, I knew exactly what he and I both wanted, and, to be honest, I was getting somewhat impatient. Pulling my face away from his, I looked up into his eyes.

"Cain… I want you to…" I trailed off. He grinned.

"You want me to what?" he asked mischievously. I glared up at him.

"You fucking know what," I retorted.

"I don't think I do. You're gonna have to tell me," he muttered, leaning in close. I stared at him, unblinking.

"No way in hell." He glowered back at me.

"Come on, Princess, I want you to tell me. Please?" As he said this, he started to pump even harder and quicker than he already was, and I inhaled sharply at the incredible feeling.

"Ahh… I…" I managed through my moans. "I want you… inside of me." He grinned with victory.

"Well, if you insist," he replied to me.

Leaning over me, he reached an arm over to the nightstand, opened the drawer there, and fished out a tiny bottle with blue print on it. It took me a moment to process what the substance was, until it dawned on me.

"Is that...lube?" I asked in surprise.

"Well it does say 'Lubricant' on the label, so yes," Cain replied smartly. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"When did that get there?" I asked, gesturing to the bedside table. Cain stared straight-faced at me.

"I put it there," he said bluntly. My jaw dropped a little.

"So you just assumed we would be getting this far?" I asked in surprise. He shrugged.

"A guy can dream, can't he?" he replied. I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had thought this through, and at least had the kindness to make sure it would be as painless for me as possible.

"You're so dumb," I muttered, pulling Cain back down on top of me to give him a quick kiss. Smirking, he sat back up again, and opened the tiny bottle of clear liquid.

Pouring a generous amount of it onto his hand, I gasped slightly when I felt him lathering it around my entrance.

"Shit, it's cold!" I cursed, earning a light chuckle from him.

"Sorry."

As he used one hand to loosen me up a bit (which was a very strange feeling), he used the other hand to pump my erection, causing me to moan softly.

"Ah… Cain, I…" I tried to speak through the waves of pleasure.

"What is it, Princess?" he asked, gazing down at me as I breathed unevenly.

"Please… be gentle." At this remark, he grinned, and leaned forward to touch his forehead to mine.

"I will, at first." I stared up at him.

"But later on…?"

"You'll love it, I promise," he replied simply before pressing our mouths together in another kiss.

Once he and I were both ready, he positioned himself to enter me, and looked into my eyes.

"Ready?" he asked. After a pause, I nodded, and holding my left thigh up with his hand, he used the other hand to try guiding his erection inside of me. It was such a foreign feeling to me, and I hissed slightly at the intrusion.

"Don't tighten up, yet. You have to relax so I can get it in." he instructed quietly. I took deep breaths.

"You expect me to relax at a time like this?!" I exclaimed, causing him to let out a laugh.

"Yes, just for a moment," he said.

Trying to heed his advice, I slowly breathed in and out, and relaxed every muscle in my body. In another moment, I felt a sharp pain, and, looking down between my legs, I quickly realized that he was almost completely inside me.

"Ahh, fuck!" I shouted. Cain, sighing with pleasure, rested his head on my chest for a moment.

"Damn," he muttered against my skin.

You got that right, I thought to myself as I clenched my hands at my pillow to help subside the discomfort. Pulling my hips up slightly as he got onto his knees, Cain smirked.

"Don't worry, it gets better," he said to me as he started thrusting slowly. I let out whimpers and gasps, praying that what he said was true. After a minute or so, though, I learned that if I continued to relax slightly, the pain would diminish. And, as Cain started to go faster, he hit somewhere inside me, and I suddenly gasped as another strange, but extremely pleasurable, feeling ran through me.

"Ah! Oh, fuck…" I moaned loudly. Cain smiled.

"Feel good?" he asked. I tried answering, but could only continue to moan and gasp as he proceeded to continuously hit the same spot inside of me. It felt like I was flying and drowning at the same time.

As Cain thrusted, he leaned into the crook of my shoulder, and I could hear the sounds he made. It was a mixture of low grunts and moans and breaths, and it fit perfectly in combination with my own whimpers and gasps. I heard the bed creaking slightly as we rocked it, and I felt the continual pleasure I was getting with each thrust.

And that pleasure only increased when Cain slid his hand over to pump my erection in time with his thrusts. I was no longer whimpering quietly, but instead emitting loud moans, and rightly so; the sensation was unbelievable, feeling him slide in and out of me, and every so often flicking the pad of his thumb over the tip of my cock. I couldn't help but be a mess in that moment. I loved it.

As Cain kept going deeper inside of me and pumping my erection, I could feel release coming on. It was a warmth deep in the pit of my stomach, and it only grew every time Cain sent another wave of pleasure coursing through me.

"Ah… I… Cain, I'm gonna…" I tried saying through my gasps and moans. Kissing my neck, Cain spoke up.

"I know, Princess," he grunted. "Go ahead and come."

That was all I needed. I felt the warmth travel down my abdomen, and my body went entirely numb with the feeling of release. I couldn't even think properly as I rode it out. All I knew was that I was probably pretty loud, but it didn't matter since we had the entire house to ourselves.

As I came, I could hear what I knew was the sound of Cain orgasming as well. He moaned into my ear, and I could tell he was grasping my pale thigh with enough force to leave a hand-shaped bruise there, but I didn't care, since I was probably going to leave bruises on him as well.

After the feeling subsided, and I finally came back to earth, I opened my eyes to find Cain had already pulled out and was laying next to me, trying to catch his breath.

"Abel…" he muttered through his breathing. "...That was amazing." I laughed softly.

"I didn't even do any work, though…" Turning on his side, Cain looked directly at me.

"Doesn't matter to me, it was your first time." I shrugged in partial agreement. Cain smiled. "Besides, you can do more next time." I blushed at the thought of us doing it again.

I closed my eyes and snuggled my head deeper into the pillow. Cain shifted beside me as he pulled the duvet over the both of us. I grinned slightly and laced our fingers together as he draped his other arm across my abdomen. Opening my eyes, I turned my head to catch him staring at me.

"What?" I asked quietly. He gave a small shrug and met my gaze with half-lidded eyes.

"Nothing…" he whispered in response. I snorted.

"You're weird." He chuckled softly.

"What I was going to say was that you're so..." he trailed off and closed his eyes. I frowned a bit.

"I'm so what?" Looking back up at me, he grinned.

"Beautiful…" My jaw dropped slightly and I felt a blush quickly rise to my cheeks. I let go of his hand and rolled over onto my side to face him. I cuddled up close to him and buried my face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled the top of my head. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

"You really think so?" I asked. I felt him nod and a wide smile spread across my face.

"You're not so bad yourself," I said, pulling away to look at him. He smiled and pressed his lips against mine in an innocent kiss. I pulled back and pressed my forehead against his, brushing our noses together. He stared me in the eyes for a few moments before pulling me against his chest and nuzzling my hair. I giggled slightly and wrapped my right arm around his torso, keeping the left folded between us, and burying my face in his chest again.

It was chilly in the room, but not cold enough to warrant cocooning oneself in a blanket. Had I been alone, I would have definitely pulled the duvet up further, but being entangled in Cain's arms, I was completely content. He gently caressed my shoulder and I felt small goosebumps form where his thumb had passed over. My left hand was splayed across his chest, and, every once in a while, I would slide it across his skin. It was rather comfortable and, if I must admit, almost as intimate as the sex itself.

I was just about to drift off when I heard the soft click of the doorknob. Cain sat up abruptly and looked at me in horror. I rolled over and saw Elena standing in the doorway with a basket of clean laundry, a shocked expression on her face. There was an awkward pause before she managed to speak.

"Oh…. Well, uhm. I'm just going to leave this over here and you can put them away when you get the chance," she said, setting the hamper down next to the dresser. Without another word, she left the room, closing the door behind her. Looking up at Cain, I laughed at the expression of pure fear on his face.

"Don't worry!" I said in an attempt to reassure him. "She won't tell, I promise." He closed his mouth and laid back down next to me.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"She knows all my secrets," I responded. I could tell from the amused look on his face that I had peaked his interest.

"How many secrets could a sheltered kid like you have?" he asked. I smirked and leaned in close, brushing our noses together.

"Lots," I whispered. I pulled back quickly and threw the covers off of me. I climbed off the bed and went in search of the clothing that had been strewn across the room. I shivered as I picked up my shirt off the floor and pulled it over my head. Looking around, I spotted my pants laying on the other side of the room. I let out a sigh and walked over to pick them up also. After pulling them on, I turned to see Cain dressing on the other side of the room. Quietly, I walked up behind him and grabbed his ribs. He let out a loud yelp and jumped in surprise.

"Don't do that! It tickles!" He said, glaring at me. I let out a loud laugh.

"You're ticklish?" I asked in disbelief. He scoffed.

"Very. I also get rather violent when tickled, so I wouldn't do it if I were you," he advised. I smirked up at him as he pulled his shirt over his head.

"So… What do you want to do now?" I asked as I walked over to the door. He shrugged.

"Thought maybe you would think of something," he said. I stopped and stood for a moment with my hand on the doorknob. After a few seconds, I perked up.

"Let's go back downstairs and play video games," I said with a big grin. He snorted.

"What do you suggest we play?" I opened the door and walked out it.

"We could play Call of Duty," I suggested as we thudded down the stairs. He chuckled.

"Well, if you insist. Fair warning, though, I'm going to kick your ass," he responded. I smirked.

"That's okay, I will get enough enjoyment out of it by making you play as the Russians." He scoffed.

"I'm pretty sure that's racist."


	8. Cain 4

**Chapter 8**

**Cain**

* * *

For some reason, the rest of Thanksgiving break passed by in a blur. Perhaps it was due to the fact that I had managed to secretly spike every drink Abel and I had at Thanksgiving dinner with vodka, maybe it was because I was actually having a lot of fun with him, or maybe it all boiled down to the fact that every time Abel was around me, my heart couldn't stop racing.

But, whatever the reason might have been, it seemed like too short of a time had passed, and I was suddenly back in my dorm room, hunched over my desk, reading through a chapter of my chem textbook and taking notes.

It was the week before Dead Week, also known as Hell Week. Everyone was trying desperately to get their grades up one last time in hopes that when they inevitably fail the final exam, it won't hurt as badly. Even though the 23/7 quiet hours hadn't started, it was still virtually silent in the dorm halls. To be frank, the constant quiet irked me. However, deep down, I knew that I needed to study if I wanted to get at least a B in all of my classes.

Not soon after I snapped the book closed in aggravation from studying so long, my phone buzzed on the desk. Glancing at the caller ID, I smirked and flipped open the device.

"Yes, Princess?" I asked. There was a heavy sigh on the other end.

"Are you busy, Cain?" Abel responded.

"Nope," I lied, glaring at my chemistry notes as if they could bite me at any moment.

"Do you want to do me a favor?"

"Depends on what kind of favor," I said, smirking to myself.

"Let's go somewhere."

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Where?"

"I don't care, anywhere. I just need to get away from all this studying." I chuckled.

"You and me both!"

"Great. Where do you want to meet?" he asked with enthusiasm.

I thought for a moment, and, glancing over at a tiny little box on the corner of my desk, an idea popped into my head.

"I will pick you up at Beta Omega, so just be ready when I get there," I said as I stood up and grabbed my leather jacket.

"Oh, okay!" Abel said on the other end. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"You bet your sweet ass I do," I replied, slipping the tiny box into my pocket. After hanging up the phone and stowing it in my pocket as well, I snatched up a set of keys off the desk. I locked my door and slipped on a pair of sunglasses as I walked down the hallway.

It wasn't long before I found myself outside the familiar facade of the Beta Omega house, waiting for Abel to come outside and meet me. And sure enough, it took only a minute or two before I saw his head of light hair peek out from the front door. The look on his face when he saw me, though, was priceless.

For the first time in weeks, I had decided to take out my motorcycle. Usually it was parked over in the student parking lot, but the place we were going was a little far away, and to be honest I just wanted to see him actually ride the thing and live a little for once. I couldn't help but grin at the thought as he bounded down to the sidewalk and gawk at my wheels.

"You have a motorcycle?!" he exclaimed, causing me to burst out laughing.

"Surprised?" I asked. He was silent, keeping his eyes locked on the bike.

"Would you believe me if I said that I wasn't?" he asked, finally, with a chuckle.

"Nope," I said before gesturing for him to climb on behind me.

He gulped before swinging one leg over the bike. After a few seconds, I looked over my shoulder to see that he had positioned himself nearly a foot behind me on the seat. I gave him a smirk and grabbed his knees, yanking him forward. Looking back at him again, I saw a blush rise to his cheeks.

"Hold on tight, Princess," I said with a wink. Turning back around and placing my palms on the handlebars, it wasn't long before I felt his arms slowly snake around my waist. I smiled and twisted the handle of the bike, revving the engine. Abel tensed up slightly when I nudged the kickstand up with my heel and steered us out into the street.

As we hit the highway, I accelerated, speeding, but far less than I usually do, since I didn't want to scare him too much on his first motorcycle ride. The air was chilly, but the temperature intensified as it ran through my hair. I missed the thrill that came with the speed. Though, as badly as I longed to be reckless, the warm body pressed against my back reminded me not to.

After about a half-hour of the wind in my hair and Abel clinging to me for dear life, I pulled off the highway and onto a narrow, winding side road. As I slowed down considerably, Abel finally unburied his face from behind me and rested his chin on my shoulder. I slowed to a stop in a parking lot next to a small picnic area and turned the key, shutting the engine off. I climbed off the bike shortly after Abel and led him over to the table sitting on a concrete slab sheltered by a roof. Stepping up onto the bench, I turned around and sat on the wooden table top. Abel walked up and stood in front of me, placing both hands on my knees.

"So why did you bring me all the way out here?" he asked, smiling up at me.

"You said you wanted to get away from the studying," I said, shrugging. "Besides, I think you'll like the view better when the sun finally goes down."

"Oh really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and stepping closer. He moved his hands to intertwine his fingers at the base of my neck. I could tell that his inner tease was beginning to show, and I couldn't be more proud.

"Really," I said, smirking. I waited silently for him to make his next move. He was finally getting used to me and I was eager to see just how far he would go on his own. His eyes darted downward before quickly returning to mine.

"I guess I'll just have to trust you," he said with a soft sigh. He dropped his hands down to his sides and sat down on the bench between my feet and rested his head against my knee.

"Bored already?" I asked, reaching out to run my fingers through his hair.

"Stressed as hell," he said, shaking his head. I nudged his shoulder with my leg, urging him to face me.

"I know, Princess," I said softly, "Me too." He looked up at me and smiled slightly and rested his elbow on my thigh. As he gazed at me, a slight look of want slowly rose in his eyes. I knew he would be too shy to make a move, like he usually was, and felt the slight need to just go for it myself. As I leaned in closer, though, I suddenly remembered one of the main reasons I had driven us all the way out here. I quickly pulled back, causing Abel to give me a confused expression.

"What are you doing?" Abel asked as I rummaged something out of my jacket pocket.

"We're gonna take a break," I replied simply. Abel's eyes widened.

"A break? Did I do something wrong? I didn't even know we were necessarily dating! Was it something I said?" I snorted with laughter, realizing that he had misunderstood me.

"Not that kind of break, doofus. I meant a break from the studying and shit." At this, Abel sighed with relief, placing his hand over his chest.

"Oh, I see, good. You freaked me out there…"

Smirking, I finally got ahold of the tiny box in my pocket. Pulling it out, Abel stared at the object quizzically. It was about the size of a deck of cards, but a bit thicker, and was made out of black leather.

"What's that?" he asked, leaning in closer to peer at it.

"It's a cigarette box. It's a fancy one, rather than the disposable ones that the cigarettes normally come in," I explained to him.

"Oh, you need to smoke?" he asked. I smirked.

"Well actually, I was hoping both of us could." At this remark, Abel's eyes widened.

"Oh, um, I'm not really into cigarettes. They're really bad for you… Not that I don't mind you smoking them! It's your own choice! I just, personally, don't really…"

He was ranting again. I sighed, knowing that he did this sometimes when he got nervous. Ignoring his words, I simply silenced him with a kiss.

After a brief moment, I pulled back, and stared straight into his eyes with a smirk.

"The thing is, though, I don't have cigarettes in here." Abel raised an eyebrow in confusion, but looked a bit relieved at the same time.

"Oh, okay. Then what do you have?"

Trying not to smile too much, I opened up the box, and took out a bit of rolled-up paper. I looked over towards Abel again, to see if maybe he knew what it was. And, based on the look on his face, I knew immediately that he, indeed, did.

"Is that… a joint?" he exclaimed. I laughed loudly as he quickly turned his head left and right to make sure that nobody else was around. It was apparent that he was nervous being around something illegal. Placing my free hand on his shoulder, I leaned in and spoke with a hushed voice.

"Princess, calm yourself. I already checked, and there's no one else here but us. You saw for yourself, right? There were no parked cars or anything." Taking a deep breath, Abel nodded, and glanced back nervously at the joint between my fingers.

"So… you want me to smoke marijuana with you?" he asked softly.

"If you are up for it, yeah," I replied. "You know it's-"

"Not addictive. Of course I do," he responded simply before I could finish. "Actually, marijuana could in fact be a good substitute for regular cigarettes, but it's still illegal simply because the government would have such a hard time taxing and regulating it, what with all the illegal activity that has sprung up over the years. It doesn't cause any form of cancer, unlike tobacco, and has actually been discovered to have extreme curative uses. It can treat some cases of epilepsy, headaches, cramps, anorexia, and depression. The only main argument that has been put against it is that many traditionalists label it as a 'gateway drug', insinuating that the usage of marijuana will lead to experimentation with other, more dangerous, drugs. Other than that very shaky point, though, there's really nothing wrong with it."

After he was done talking, I simply stared at him, joint in hand, with wide eyes.

"Damn, Princess, you really are a nerd," I muttered with a laugh.

"I was in debate in high school, and this was one of the topics I argued," he replied simply while smiling.

"So… can I take that as a 'yes' then?" I asked him, holding up the joint. After a moment of contemplation, Abel gazed up at me and nodded.

"If it'll take my mind off of studying for even a little bit, then yes. Definitely."

I grinned, thankful that he didn't completely dismiss the idea. Honestly, I had figured it could have gone either way, but Abel still did not cease to surprise me.

"Alright," I replied happily, sliding my brand-new lighter out of my pocket. "Since you are doing this for the first time, I'll let you go first."

"Alright…" he muttered, still obviously a bit anxious. But despite this, he accepted the joint when I handed it to him, put it up to his mouth, and lit up the other end.

"Now don't let it completely catch on fire," I advised, leaning in so I could help him. "There. Now inhale."

Doing as he was told, he sucked in the smoke, but quit abruptly when he began a short fit of coughing.

"Is… this supposed to… happen?" he said as the coughing subsided. I chuckled.

"Since it's your first time, yes. It will also happen if you take too big of a hit, unfortunately. But, on a better note, it supposedly gets you higher faster."

"How high will we get from just one joint?" he asked as he handed it to me, his coughing finally calmed.

"Hard to say. I haven't smoked weed for at least a month now, I think, and when you're doing it for the first time it's even harder to predict. You could get really really really high, or you could not feel anything at all. That's just how it goes." After I finished my explanation, I took my hit, then quickly handed it back to Abel.

For a few minutes, we continued to pass it back and forth, and I could definitely start feeling the effects. I was feeling weightless, my eyelids felt heavy, and I couldn't stop smiling. Now, whether the last bit was due to the weed or just because I was sitting alone next to Abel, I couldn't be exactly sure of, but it didn't really matter to me. I was just glad I could do this with Abel. The only other people I had smoked with weren't nearly as pure or kind-hearted as Abel was, and frankly it was a breath of fresh air. Abel himself was a breath of fresh air.

After we finished two joints, I knew that we were good. Abel had already started staring off into space, and every muscle in my body was completely relaxed. Slowly, I reached out a hand and ran my fingers through his soft, blond hair. A smile spread across my face as he leaned into my touch. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

"How're you feelin', Princess?" I asked.

"Good," he said, leaning back to smile up at me. "How long are we gonna stay here?"

"I dunno," I answered him.

Looking around, I noticed that the sun had almost completely disappeared over the horizon and the sky above us was getting darker by the minute. I turned back to Abel and nudged him to stand up. He swayed a bit as he got to his feet, but grabbed my shoulder to catch his balance. I snaked an arm around his waist and led him down the wooden stairs to the beach below. As my feet hit the hardened sand, the last of the sunlight disappeared. I sat down on the ground and tugged Abel's hand. He sat next to me and immediately leaned back and laid down. I looked at him and shook my head. With a chuckle, I laid next to him and put an arm behind my head. We sat there in silence, both staring up at the night sky.

"Cain?" Abel asked without averting his gaze.

"Yeah?"

"There are a lot of stars," he said, a dumbfounded tone to his voice.

"Yes. Yes there are," I snorted.

"No. Like. So many stars." I couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're high, Princess."

"So? I can't just appreciate the beauty of space?"

"I bet it seems really beautiful right now though, am I right?" He was silent before answering.

"...Yeah," he muttered. Sitting back up, he looked down at me with a smile, his cheeks dusted a shade of pink, only slightly visible in the twilight. "Maybe it's also because I'm here with you, though."

Caught off-guard, I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I wasn't expecting him to be so forward like that. But perhaps it was because the drugs that were making him more confident. I gave a small grin.

"Are you flirting with me?" I asked him. He shifted his eyes to look at anything else that wasn't me.

"Maybe… I mean, how else would I let you know how much I want to kiss you right now…?"

Smirking, I followed suit and sat up so our eye level was even, and stared directly at him. I lifted a hand up to touch his cheek as I spoke.

"That's true. I'm glad that you're starting to get more nerve…" I muttered as I leaned my face in closer. "...I like that about you."

Before Abel could reply, I closed the gap between us and pressed our lips together. At first, we kissed softly, simply enjoying the feeling of closeness and warmth. I slid a hand up Abel's clothed thigh, while the hand that had previously been caressing his face was now tangled in the short blonde hairs at the base of his neck.

As we continued to move our lips against each other, though, the kisses grew more and more hungry, and I could feel Abel's grip on my shoulders grow stronger. Taking this as a sign that he wanted more, I grabbed his right leg and pulled it over to rest on the other side of me, so that Abel was now straddling me, his knees digging into the cooling sand.

"Mmm…" he moaned into our kisses. He gracefully slid his arms around my neck, resting them on my shoulders, and didn't hesitate to roll his hips on my lap, now that our groins were so close.

"Fuck…" I muttered, pulling away only by an inch to catch my breath.

"Cain…" Abel whispered to me.

"What is it?"

"I'm cold."

Staring at him for a moment, I couldn't help but laugh at the comment. He raised an eyebrow questioningly, obviously confused about what was so funny.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked with a pouty face.

"Here I am, getting hard and thinking that you were gonna say something dirty, and instead you say you're fucking cold." Showing that he finally understood, he laughed too.

"Sorry…but it's true! It is December after all… it feels like it's close to freezing out here now. Ugh, I hate winter…" he said with a sigh. Still sitting, I rested my hands on his hips.

"Do you wanna head back?" I asked, pressing our foreheads together. He nodded slightly before climbing off my lap. He held out a hand and pulled me to my feet. We were quiet as we climbed the stairs back up to the parking lot and were almost back to the bike before he spoke up again.

"So… You've got legs, right?" he asked.

"I'm walking on them, so yeah," I said with a snort.

"Yeah, so… that means you can dance, too, right?"

"Where are you going with this, Abel?" I asked, swinging my leg over the bike. He sighed heavily and climbed on after me.

"Do you want to go to that Greek winter thing with me?"

"The Winter Formal?" I asked, turning to look at him. He nodded.

"If you don't want to, I understand. I mean, I just figured I'd ask, but you don't have to-"

"Abel," I said, cutting him off.

"Yeah?"

"It's a date," I replied bluntly before revving the engine to life.


	9. Abel 5

**Chapter 9**

**Abel**

"Abel, can you help me tie this?" Ethos asked as I walked back into our room, shutting the door behind me. I laughed and walked up to him. He sighed and handed me the ends of the tie.

"I still can't believe that you can't tie a tie. Especially after all of the formals and chapter meetings we've had to go to over the past two years," I said, flipping the ends over each other before tightening it up to his neck.

Dead week was just around the corner, and since this weekend was the last time that clubs and organizations could hold events and meetings before the hectic schedule of finals dawned and winter break began, tonight was the night of the Greek Winter Formal. In a way, the formal was the last big official hurrah before we all crawled into our dorm rooms to study and cry for the next two weeks.

"I know, I know. I just can't get the hang of it!" Ethos exclaimed, walking back over to the mirror to check himself out and make sure the tie looked relatively symmetrical. He huffed and turned back to me. "Do I look okay?"

"You look fine, Ethos," I said, standing next to him so that I could fix my own tie.

"I just… I'm nervous, y'know?" he said, scrunching up his face. I finished and turned to face him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure Praxis will think you look fine, too," I said with a smile. He just blushed and turned to grab his jacket off the back of his desk chair.

"Are you nervous?" he asked. I shrugged and ran a hand through my hair, attempting to tame the blond mess.

"Not really," I said. Ethos frowned and gave me a look. I sighed. "Okay, maybe a little."

"I don't even know why I am, though," Ethos said with a groan as he flopped into the chair and spun around. "Praxis is really nice and hasn't been anything short of sweet since we started hanging out. He's really gentle and really caring, y'know?"

I snorted, but covered it up with a laugh. The only time I had ever interacted with Praxis was when he walked in on Cain and I. My face flushed at the thought. Truth be told, it was pretty plain to see that Ethos' and my relationships were very different. Cain could be sweet, sometimes, but in his own way; a way that by most standards probably couldn't be considered sweet at all. But it didn't matter to me what others thought. Not for the most part, anyways...

"I understand what you mean," I replied to Ethos as I sat down in my own chair and propped my feet up on the desk. I grabbed a rubber band ball from beside my pencil holder and tossed it at the wall, catching it as it bounced back.

"Is Cain anything like that? Caring and stuff, I mean," he asked. I furrowed my eyebrows and continued to play catch with myself.

"He's…" I trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I don't know. He's definitely gotten nicer since the first time I met him."

"That's good," he said. "I remember the first time you mentioned him to me! You were so appalled at the way he talked to the dean!" He and I both laughed at the memory, and then we were both quiet for a while, me tossing the ball against the wall, Ethos spinning in his chair. Stopping to look at me directly, he finally spoke up again. "Have you had sex?"

I almost choked on my own saliva.

"Ethos!" I exclaimed, dropping the bouncy ball, and nearly falling out of my chair. I stared at him open mouthed with wide eyes.

"What?!" he said, smiling at me.

"I can't believe you just asked me that! If you haven't noticed… sex is a very personal thing."

"Well," he said, holding up his hands in defense. "You're my best friend, and I feel like we don't talk much about things anymore. I rarely ever even see you because you spend so much time with him!" I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "We should definitely have dinner before break and catch up on things."

"Definitely," he agreed with a nod. "So…"

"So…?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Have you?" he pressed. I closed my mouth and turned away from him, a blush rising to my cheeks. I was about to respond, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"It's open!" I shouted. The doorknob clicked and the door swung open revealing an extremely frustrated Cain. "What-"

"I can't fucking tie this stupid thing," he snapped, tossing a strip of cloth to me. I looked at it and chuckled before standing up and facing him.

"Trying to be extra classy are we?" I asked, popping his collar and wrapping the bowtie around the back of his neck so that I could tie it off.

"I don't own an actual tie, so I figured why the fuck not," he said. I giggled quietly as I folded the bowtie. I bit my lip out of frustration and undid what I had done.

"What?" he asked, looking down at me. "Did you forget how to do this?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "It was crooked."

"You're such a perfectionist," He said with a snort.

"I just want you to look your best!" I said.

"I always look my best," he retorted, placing his hands on my hips. I twisted the finished bowtie to straighten it one last time before snaking my arms around his neck.

"Yeah, but you look better like this."

"You can't improve upon perfection, Princess," he said, smirking down at me.

"You are so cocky," I said, grinning and standing on my tiptoes to press our lips together, silencing him before he could make a sassy response. I pulled back shortly after when I heard a knock at the door.

"Knock, knock!" Praxis announced as he walked in. Ethos jumped to his feet and flung his arms around the taller man's neck, pressing a kiss to the side of his face.

"What took you so long, Praxis?" spoke Cain as he hooked his arm around my waist. "You left before me, didn't you?" At the mention, Praxis laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, that's because I had to pick up something…" he muttered, suddenly pulling out a little clear plastic container out of the pocket of his blazer.

As Praxis held it out for Ethos to see, I could easily make out that it was a small red rose, cut just short enough to that it could fit in its box. I could hear Ethos gasp a little at the sight of it.

"For me?" he asked disbelievingly. Praxis smiled and nodded, opening up the box to take out the small flower.

"It's kind of old-fashioned, but I wanted to get you it to wear on your lapel," he explained. "Here, let me pin it on for you."

Excitedly, Ethos slid on his black blazer, and Praxis had to lean forward quite a bit so his head was nearly level with Ethos' chest. After attaching the boutonniere, though, he stood back up to his original height, and gazed at Ethos longingly. Ethos was blushing furiously. The way Praxis looked at him almost made me blush as well. It made me wonder if Cain ever looked at me like that. Maybe when I wasn't looking?

My thoughts were suddenly pushed from my mind, though, when I felt Cain's calloused hand take hold of mine.

"So are we ready to go?" he asked me. I nodded and checked myself one last time in the mirror before heading out with Cain, Praxis, and Ethos.

The entirety of Greekland was in a tizzy. Countless students were filing themselves down the streets, making their way over to the Union, where the dance would be held. Along with offices, the school store, a cafeteria, and many other services, the Union also had a large ballroom for occasions such as this one.

Upon seeing just how many people were going to be there, a thought suddenly popped into my head, and I felt my stomach flip. I tightened my grip on Cain's hand.

"Something wrong, Princess?" he asked, looking over to me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell him here, but Praxis and Ethos were already quite a ways ahead of us, and I figured Cain would want to know.

"I'm just… nervous of what might happen when people see us together," I confessed. To my surprise, Cain responded with a snort.

"Who even cares about other people? They all can mind their own damn business," he replied bluntly. I sighed, wishing that it was only so simple as that.

"Yeah, but you must have people who aren't that fond of you, right?" Cain raised an eyebrow at me.

"Are you insinuating something?" he asked, sounding a bit insulted. I smiled and shook my head.

"No, I just mean that if those people knew certain things about you, they might try to use them against you, right?"

By this time, we had made it to the outside of the Union, and Cain stopped me just before we were about to make our way up the steps into the large building. Still holding my hand, he led me beneath a small tree, out of the way of the people who were making their way inside.

"Princess," he said, pulling me so that our bodies were flush against one another, "if you are worried about some douchebags who might call us faggots or some shit, don't be. Because if any asshole says anything like that while I am in earshot, I will not hesitate to slug him right in his ugly fucking face."

Once Cain was done speaking, I had to stifle a laugh. Scoffing, he demanded to know what was so funny. I waved it off with one hand.

"It's nothing, really!" I replied, my giggles beginning to subside. "You just can't help but use such filthy language, can you?" At this remark, Cain's expression turned mischievous. He leaned his face in towards mine, and whispered into my ear.

"Oh, Princess. I'm going to show you just how dirty my mouth can get."

Immediately, I could feel my cheeks heat up. One could only imagine what Cain was planning. A shiver ran up my spine.

"J-just… we should go inside already," I sputtered, pulling Cain back into the crowd by his hand. He merely laughed in response.

After finally making it through the throng of people who were outside the ballroom, Cain and I found ourselves surrounded by even more when we entered the actual dance. At the center of the large hall, a swarm of students were all dancing close to one another, either with a partner, or in groups. The music was booming loudly, so much so that I could feel every beat in my ribcage. I certainly hoped it wouldn't be this kind of music the entire night, because I couldn't really imagine that Cain would ever dance to this sort of thing.

Luckily, though, there were plenty of non-dancers meandering around the edges of the ballroom as well, and I quickly spotted Ethos and Praxis amongst them, over by the refreshments table.

Pointing them out to Cain, he and I both made our way over to our roommates. I struck up conversation with Praxis as Cain poured us drinks. Shortly after he handed me mine, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find Logos standing behind us, a wide smile plastered on his face.

"Alright, boys, I came to get drunk and steal your dates! They confiscated my vodka at the door, so come dance with me!" he said excitedly and grabbed my hand.

Before Cain could protest otherwise, I handed my drink back to him and followed Logos onto the dance floor. It wasn't long before we were joined by our friends. After a couple of upbeat songs, they started playing a slower one.

"Hate to dance and ditch, Abel, but your boyfriend looks ready to kill," Logos said with a smile before disappearing into the crowd to find another dance partner.

Not seconds later, Cain had stepped in front of me and pulled my body flush against his. Without a word, he placed one hand on my waist and took one of mine with the other. As he moved our bodies in time with the music, I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

It was wonderful, being so close to Cain. Sure, I had been this close before, but the fact that all I had to do was lean on him and sway back and forth to the music was relieving. So many things seemed just so simple when it came to being around him. As we danced, I ended up listening more to the beat of his heart than to the actual music. My thoughts dissipated quickly, though, when I felt Cain lean his face down towards mine.

"Abel," he whispered, lips brushing against my ear.

"Hmm?"

"Come with me," he said, tugging my hand and leading me off the dance floor.

I was a bit disheartened to leave our peaceful bubble, but at the same time I also was curious about where he was planning to go. Most of the rest of the building was probably closed by now, considering that it was almost eleven at night. Despite this, though, I followed without struggle.

He led me down a long hallway that housed conference rooms and various faculty offices. As we walked down the hall, I watched with an amused look as he attempted to open several doors, all of which turned out to be locked. Finally, however, he found one that was unlocked and opened it. After checking to see if anyone was in the room, he pulled me inside and shut the door behind us before clicking the lock.

The office was small, only enough room for the desk, the two chairs that sat in front of it, and enough room to walk between them. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and on the wall opposite the door, there was a large window that looked out over the courtyard of the Union. The blinds were closed just enough that we could see out, but you couldn't see in unless you walked right up to the window. As I looked around, Cain moved to stand in front of me. He inched closer and I stepped backward, stopping when my back hit the door.

"Y'know, Princess," he said, placing his forearm above my head and staring down at me, "I don't think you understand how hot you are."

"I…" I trailed off, a blush rising to my cheeks.

"You drive me fucking crazy," he said with a smirk.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked, biting my lower lip and gazing up at him. I watched as the look in his eyes went from playful to burning with lust.

"Abel..." He chuckled before continuing in a smooth voice, "...I'm going to fuck you 'til you scream."

My eyes widened at the comment. Without another word, he clenched his fingers around my tie and pulled me forward into a bruising kiss. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment, but it wasn't long before the agitation disappeared, and was instead replaced with newfound passion as he continued to kiss me roughly.

Probably noticing my sudden participation in our kisses, Cain let out a satisfied groan and grabbed onto the backs of my legs, lifting them up so that they rested around his waist. He did all this without separating our mouths.

Using the new angle to create friction between our growing erections, Cain slid his rough hands down to cradle my ass, holding me in place while he moved his kisses down past my jaw.

"Cain… what's gotten into you all of a sudden?" I muttered, grabbing at the soft hair at the base of his neck.

"Ugh… you in a tux," he confessed quietly, his hot breath on my neck. I blushed, unsure of how just wearing a tux could get him like this.

"You're weird…" I muttered in reply. At this, Cain shot his head back up to look me directly in the eyes.

"You think that me wanting to wreck you and your nice tux is weird? I care to disagree," he said in a low voice. "You're so beautiful, it just makes me want to rip all your clothes off, leave as many bruises and hickies as possible, and hear your screams as I take you on that desk over there."

My jaw dropped. Did I really just hear him correctly? Was this what he was actually thinking? My mind was a blank. I had no idea how to respond to what he just said…

Or maybe I did?

Without saying another word, I pulled him in and kissed him even more roughly, bruising my lips in the process. I didn't care, though. I simply wanted him to do all the things that he had just listed. I wanted him to take me. After all, we were in a dark, locked office, in a part of the building that was completely deserted, the booming sounds of the dance were bound to cover up any noise that we made, and we haven't had the chance to have sex since we got back from Thanksgiving break. It had definitely crossed my mind that Cain might be sexually frustrated, considering the kind of guy he was, but I had never in my wildest imagination thought that he would be like this. It was absolutely fantastic.

Trailing his mouth back down the other side of my neck to lick and suck near my adam's apple, I heard Cain growl.

"Fucking tie…" he cursed, trying to pull the collar of my dress shirt down more so he could get better access. After a few tries, though, he simply decided to take the easier route. Loosening my tie, he undid the first three buttons of my shirt and happily went right back to sucking and leaving marks on my collarbone.

After a few moments of this, Cain retracted from me, stepping backwards so that he leaned on one of the bookshelves. He still had the end of my tie in hand, however, and forcibly pulled me towards him with it, causing me to trip a little. But, through fast acting, Cain placed himself so that as I was pulled, my lips ended up planted right on his again.

"It's hot in here…" he muttered after we broke away. Sliding his hands up my torso and underneath my blazer, he expertly slid it off of me and tossed it to rest on one of the chairs on the other side of the room.

"I think I know how to fix that…" I muttered in reply before pressing our lips together again. As I slid my tongue into Cain's mouth, I glided my hands up to his bowtie and undid it, letting the ends of the fabric hang on either side of his neck. I helped him shed his own jacket before undoing the buttons of his shirt.

"Come on, Abel…" Cain groaned, probably because I was going much more slowly than he had. "I want to fuck you so bad…" he whispered into my ear. I blushed furiously, but managed to form a response.

"Just… one second," I murmured to him. "...I want to try something."

Cain raised an eyebrow in confusion, but didn't protest when I gave him one last peck on the lips before trailing my hands down to unbutton his dress pants.

Pressing my head against his chest out of slight embarrassment, I pulled down the zipper. With one shaky hand, I slid underneath the fabric of his underwear and pulled out his half-standing erection. My breathing was uneven, but I tried my best to concentrate as I gripped the shaft tightly and started to pump it slowly.

Hearing Cain's breath hitch a little when I started pleasuring him gave me more motivation. It only took a few more moments of me sliding my hand up and down on him before he was fully hard, a bit of precum beginning to seep out of the tip. Cain groaned, gripping the fabric of the front of my shirt.

"Abel, let's just fucking-"

"Hold on, I'm trying to concentrate!" I interrupted before he could finish his sentence. I knew all too well that he wanted to go further, and I did too, but first, I wanted to give him sole pleasure. Taking in a deep breath, I got down onto my knees so that I was level with Cain's hips.

Finally realizing what I was planning, Cain sucked in his breath and stared down at me.

"Abel, are you sure you want to-"

Before he could finish the sentence, though, I wrapped my mouth around the tip, sheathing as much of the shaft in my mouth as I could take. Immediately, I could hear Cain moan at the sudden heat. I mentally patted myself on the back, thankful that I was able to give him nearly as much pleasure as he gave me.

Finally taking the plunge, I licked and sucked and kissed his length with vigor. It was a good thing he had done this to me other times before, so I sort of already knew what to do. In addition, every moan he made helped me to figure out what he liked and didn't like, and soon enough, he was tangling his fingers in my hair and begging.

"Abel, please, I'm gonna cum…" he pleaded down to me. "I need you so bad…"

Kissing his erection one last time, I finally pulled back and stood up again to look Cain straight in the eyes.

"Then take me," I commanded him.

Grinning, Cain stepped forward, and in one swift motion he had me laying on my back on the desk, knocking several pencils and a few papers to the floor in the process.

"About fucking time," Cain replied as he undid the buttons and zipper of my pants at an ungodly fast speed.

Before I even had time to respond, my pants and underwear were pulled down my legs to hang off of one ankle. I gasped at the sudden cold on my nether regions.

"Ah- fuck!" I cursed. Smirking, Cain placed himself directly between my spread legs, and lifted me up by my tie to plant a kiss on my swollen lips.

"I'm so fucking excited, you have no idea," he whispered to me as he used one hand to slide into his pocket, obviously searching for something.

I was about to ask what he was looking for, but my question was answered when he pulled out a tiny, travel-sized bottle of lube. I gazed up at him, eyebrows raised.

"Predicting the future _again, _are you?" I commented, earning a chuckle from him.

"All part of my master plan, yes," he replied confidently, flipping the cap of the bottle open.

"Is that what you do in your free time now? Plan out creative ways and places to fuck me?" I asked with a lowered voice.

"Would you be shocked if I said I did and already have a rather long list?"

"No," I replied. "I think it's fantastic."

With a smile, Cain pressed his lips to mine, and without breaking the contact, he coated his fingers with the lube and proceeded to stretch me out, pumping my erection at the same time.

"Ngh…" I groaned, still not completely used to the feeling of someone else's fingers inside of me. Cain knew exactly what he was doing, though, and easily stretched my entrance enough to fit in a second finger.

"Ahh!" I moaned suddenly, as he managed to hit the really good spot with just his fingers.

"Yeah…" he whispered into my ear. "I love it when you moan like that… your voice is so sexy." I tried to even out my breathing, without much luck.

"Cain, please… get inside me," I pleaded. Giving a soft chuckle, he nodded, and pulled out his fingers.

After quickly coating his cock with the slippery substance, he positioned himself at my entrance, and pulled at my tie while he slowly slid inside. I was gasping for air, gripping the edges of the desk tightly as I tried to relax myself enough for him to completely enter me.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" I swore, which I assumed was probably amusing for Cain to hear. It had taken me awhile to realize just how much he was changing me, how much of an influence he had on my behavior. He got me to start swearing more, he was always goofing off with me, and not to mention the sex! That was sort of a big thing too.

To be honest, though, all of these desires were already present in me. Cain was just the one person who had managed to release all of it. Somehow, he could see past the exterior that I worked so hard to put up, and ripped out all the parts of me that I had tried to suppress. It all worked out so perfectly, though, considering that he literally embodied all the things that my father despised. In other words, he set me free.

"Abel, you feel so good…" Cain muttered to me, pulling my thoughts back to reality. Not that I minded, though, since this reality was amazing.

"Please, Cain, move," I pleaded. Smirking down at me, he obliged, and pulled his hips back just so that only the tip of his length was in. Within another split second, though, he plunged himself back in, causing me to let out a broken cry.

"Shit!" I moaned, gasping.

Cain lifted my legs up so they rested on his shoulders, and gazed down at me, breathing uneven and ragged. Looking up at him with half-lidded eyes, I pouted.

"Why are you going so slow?" I whined. "Before, you were so impatient…" This earned a chuckle from Cain.

"I didn't realize, sorry. I just like watching your face."

Blushing, I frowned and pulled him close so our noses touched.

"If you like that, then go faster. You'll see what my face looks like then." At this, he raised his eyebrows, obviously dumbstruck. However, the motivation seemed to be enough for him, and, grabbing my hips for better leverage, Cain quickened his pace.

Moments passed, and he finally got to the speed I liked best: the kind that started rocking the desk. Groaning and panting, Cain lifted up the bottom of my shirt and began kissing my abdomen, his hot breaths versus the cold air on my exposed skin causing goosebumps to form.

"Ahh, Cain… ahh, fuck-" I breathed, entangling my fingers in his black hair and tugging gently. It felt amazing, like I was floating, or even high. In fact, the feeling of sex was incredibly similar to being high, except I was high on adrenaline and hormones, rather than drugs.

And, as Cain continued thrusting, those hormones shot through me when he suddenly hit my prostate again. I can't fully remember what happened then, except I think I screamed.

Cain, obviously aware that he had just found the right spot, proceeded to hit it again and again. Meanwhile, I was completely gone, melted away. I had closed my eyes and simply rode the pleasure, fully knowing that I was going to come soon, _hard. _

"Abel…" Cain managed to say through his heavy breathing, "...open… your eyes."

Despite being so close to cumming, I was able to do what he asked, and I opened my eyelids to look up at Cain, our gazes locking.

He was beginning to sweat, and I could vaguely make out a deep shade of red showing on his caramel-colored cheeks. God, he looked so sexy. And to top it off, he was inside me. Just the thought that I managed to get him this way, that I was able to put him into this state of need and lust, was unbelievable. Who would have thought that this guy, who at first had come off as incredibly intimidating and cold-hearted, would end up sweeping me away like this. I didn't know if we were dating, exactly, because Cain didn't seem like the type to date, but I relished this moment. I could've stayed there with him forever.

And, eventually, the thought of it all managed to push me over the edge.

I climaxed, grabbing Cain's hands. As I rode out the orgasm, I heard him moan loudly, and I could slightly feel a warmth growing inside of me as he came along with me.

Finally, after what almost felt like an eternity, though it never lasted long enough, I came back to earth, and found Cain had lost all his strength, and was now laying on top of me. He was panting, but after a few more moments he and I eventually began to breathe somewhat normally.

I brought up a hand and slowly ran it through his hair. He shifted and smiled up at me, face radiant in his afterglow.

"What'd you think of that, Princess?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"I think we should definitely do that again, sometime," I replied with an exhausted smile. He chuckled in response and pushed himself up.

As we both pulled on our discarded clothes, I couldn't help but watch him. He was moving much slower than he had been earlier. As I watched, I ended up noticing some of the small things he did, such as running his fingers through his disheveled hair, which he did quite frequently. He was extremely attractive, even though I would never tell him that. His ego was big enough already.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's not polite to stare?" he asked, jerking me back to reality.

"Not staring," I said. "More like gazing." He snorted, and held out a hand to me, meaning that it was time to go.

"Wait, does my hair look okay?" I asked worriedly. "Does it look like sex hair?" Cain chuckled and shook his head.

"No, Princess. You look perfect as always, now let's go." Sighing, I took his hand, and we both exited the room, being sure to make it look like we had never been there.

Just as we were about to head back to the dance, though, we were suddenly stopped when someone down the hall addressed us.

"Well, well, well," a voice said. "What do we have here?"


	10. Cain 5

**Chapter 10**

**Cain**

At the sound of the voice, I instinctively tightened my grip on Abel's hand. I turned and squinted my eyes in an attempt to see through the darkness, but failed. Because this part of the building was pretty much deserted, all the lights were off, much to my chagrin.

"Who the fuck are you?" I snapped to whoever had addressed us. Abel stepped closer to me. The owner of the voice slowly stepped out from the shadows and revealed that it was…

Someone I did not know.

_The fuck is this guy? _I thought to myself. As I wondered, though, another figure stepped out into the faint light, joining the other, shorter, guy.

Both of them were blond, but not the pretty kind, and neither of them were even remotely attractive. I mean, really? The smaller guy had hair down past his chin that was fucking parted in the middle, and the other guy (a little bit better-looking I suppose) was big and built, with an undercut. Sneering, I spoke again.

"I dunno if you heard me the first time, but I think I asked, 'who the fuck are you'?" This only received a gross snicker from parted-hair guy.

"That's really none of your business," he said simply before glancing over to Abel, who tensed up at the sudden eye contact.

"Well, I had no idea you were a fag, Abel," the short one said, putting his hands on his narrow hips. "To be honest, though, I'm not surprised."

I made a move to step toward them, but Abel put an arm out, and looked up at me, shaking his head. He always had to be the fucking diplomat, didn't he?

"Why don't you mind your own, business, Phobos?" Abel snapped. They two asshats threw their heads back in laughter.

"The fact that you're spending quality time with this fairy may not be _my_ business, but I can just about bet that your father would find it interesting to know that his son takes it up the ass." Abel jerked back, eyes widening in terror.

Growling, I swiftly let go of Abel's hand and clenched it into a fist. Quickly closing the distance between me and the two wannabes, there was absolutely no time for the longer-haired guy to react before I decked him right in the face.

I was pretty sure I heard his nose break. Smirking, I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back into a standing position before slamming him against the wall with both my hands on his shoulders.

"Cain, what are you doing?" Abel exclaimed, grabbing onto the loose fabric at the back of my blazer.

"Listen here, Photos-" I shouted.

"It's Phobos, you fucking bastard!" he snapped, stifling the flow of blood that was dripping from his nostrils. I glared at him.

"What the fuck ever," I snarled before leaning in close and lowering my voice to a harsh whisper, "If you even fucking _think_ about mentioning _any of this_ to Abel's father, I will personally hunt you down and kill you. Very slowly, and _very _painfully. Do you want that? I think not. So just stay quiet like the little rat you are and mind your own fucking business."

"Why should I even be scared of _you, _you prick? You're just a lowly fucking stripper. How much do you even get paid for that, huh?" he said in an attempt to act menacing. I cocked my head to the side and smirked at him. _Bingo._

"And how, pray tell, do you know that I work at a _gay strip club_?" I asked. The color drained from his face. "I fucking thought you looked familiar, mister first row Thursday nights…"

Phobos was silent for a moment, merely staring up at me with an enormous frown plastered on his face. Finally, though, he tried wiggling free of my grasp and spoke up.

"Just… let me go, you freak! I'll sue you for assault!" he sputtered, causing me to laugh loudly.

"And if you do that, I will also have another reason to kill you," I replied bluntly in a low voice. Staring into his scared, wet eyes, I gave him the coldest glare I could muster. I wanted to make sure he knew that I fucking meant business. Forcing someone out of the closet was the douchiest of douche moves, and I knew this guy probably wouldn't hesitate to do it to Abel, but now that I also had dirt on him, I had a fairly good feeling that he wouldn't do something so risky.

After a few tense moments, I let him go.

Like the little puss he was, he retreated back to his big friend, who pulled out a tissue to help clean up his bloody nose.

"You faggots just watch yourselves! You can't hide your dirty little secret forever." Phobos threatened half-heartedly. The threat was extremely empty, however, when delivered with his nasally voice. I had to try and keep myself from laughing in the serious moment.

After they had turned down the hallway and gotten out of earshot, I turned back to face Abel.

He was frozen in place, staring down at the boring tiled floor. His fists were clenched, and I figured he was either mad or worried. Not that I blamed him, anyway. Sighing heavily to help calm myself down from the confrontation, I walked over to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"...Are you okay?" I asked him quietly. He didn't respond, though, and instead I could feel him shaking slightly. And that's when I realized it.

He was crying.

"Abel, what's wrong? Tell me," I pleaded, wrapping my arms around him and pet the back of his head. I felt his arms slowly wrap around my waist as he buried his face in my chest, tears soaking into the fabric of my shirt.

"My dad…" Abel spoke, muffled, into the fabric of my jacket.

"What was that?" I asked.

Turning his head to the left so his voice was more audible, he spoke again.

"If my dad ever found out, I'm pretty sure I would never see you again." My eyes widened. Would the Professor really pull his son out of college? Or even worse, he would find some way to kick me out… Honestly speaking, though, the thought of him doing that didn't surprise me. I knew he was a poisonous guy right from the start. However, he also seemed smart, so why wouldn't he have the mental capacity to just let his son be happy and experience the world? Then again, he was practically turning Abel into a miniature version of himself, and I doubt he would want that image tarnished by him being with a guy… especially a guy like me.

I frowned, not quite sure how to respond. Abel was right.

So then, what should I do? It would take a lot of thinking. For now, though, I just wanted Abel to stop crying. He didn't deserve to be sad on a night like this.

"Abel, it's okay," I muttered, pulling his chin up so he would look at me.

I finally got a good look at his face. His eyes were pink and his cheeks were damp from his tears, and his mouth was partly open, releasing erratic breaths. If he weren't crying, I would've told him that he looked beautiful.

He always looked beautiful, though. Not that I ever planned to tell him.

"How do you know it'll be okay, though?" Abel managed to say, his voice wavering slightly.

"Because you have helped me so much," I replied simply. Abel raised an eyebrow in confusion. I lifted my hand up to touch his cheek, wiping away the trails that his tears left.

"You somehow found a way to level me out, even if it has only been a little," I admitted, looking straight into his eyes. "I mean, seriously? You got me to do fucking homework for the first time in forever. You brought order into my chaotic life. You have helped me to start figuring out what I actually care about."

Staring up at me, Abel appeared to be at a loss for words. I felt the same way. It was so unlike me to just admit all of those things. Sure, Abel didn't know a lot about me, but he and I both knew I wasn't the type to express my inner thoughts. All the things I said, though, were one-hundred percent true, much to my amazement.

Smiling down at Abel's awe-struck face, I continued.

"And so, since you have been helping me so much, there's no way I will let those fuckers back there mess up you and me. I did all I could just now, so I don't know whether they will actually tell your dad or not…" the grasp he had on the back of my blazer tightened at the mention, "...but if they do, believe me when I say that I will do anything to make sure you're okay."

Once I finished speaking, Abel managed to crack a small glimpse of a smile. Raising a hand up to wipe his eyes, he sniffled, trying to recompose himself.

"You're definitely different from when I first met you," he spoke to me. "You're not as much of an asshole, which is good."

"Watch it," I threatened at the mention of me being an asshole. Abel laughed softly.

"Sorry, I don't think you are anymore," he replied, finally returning to his normal self. He took hold of my hand. "Now come on, let's go back to the dance. It'll be ending soon."

Nodding, I smiled and grasped his hand tight, the both of us making our way back to the loud noise and big crowds of the winter formal, which would hopefully shield us from the harshness of reality, at least for tonight.

"I'm sooooooo tired…" Ethos groaned, dragging his feet on the sidewalk. A loud laugh erupted from Praxis.

"That's because you did the entire dance to Gangnam Style!" he managed to say through his laughter. I cracked a smile.

Despite the incident with Phobos and Porthos (Abel finally gave me his name after I kept on referring to him as "undercut Tarzan"), things had managed to remain lively, which was a relief to me. We had given an explanation to Ethos and Praxis when we returned back to the dance- leaving out the embarrassing details, of course- and they agreed that Phobos and Porthos had been completely out of line when they approached us and threatened Abel like that. Afterwards, we had proceeded to dance until we got kicked out when the formal ended.

Now, we were walking back to Praxis' and my room for video games and food. As we walked, Abel and I trailed behind Praxis and Ethos on the sidewalk, since the cement wasn't wide enough for four people to all walk together on it. As we walked, Abel and I held hands, thankful that the late night darkness concealed us so we were free to do so.

"Oh, I forgot to ask," I spoke up, causing Abel to stop staring off into space and instead turn and face me.

"What is it?" he replied, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.

"It seemed like those douchebags back there already knew you. How did you end up being acquainted to dickwads like them?" I asked. He sighed and dropped his gaze to the ground before responding.

"...Phobos was my roommate last year, and Porthos lived across the hall from us, rooming with some guy whose name I can't remember, but he was also a dickwad, as you put it. It was pretty shitty," he said. I snorted.

"So has he always been an asshole or did your snoring make him like that?" I asked with a smirk.

"I do not snore!" he said, scoffing up at me.

"Whatever you say, Princess." Trying to subdue a smile, he continued his explanation.

"It's a… well, it's a long story, but Phobos ended up hating me by the end of our freshman year, and it's stayed that way ever since. I _have _been trying my best to avoid him, but obviously considering what happened earlier that turned out to be pointless." I frowned, wondering how in the world how the guy could've possibly decided to hate Abel.

"Just don't let him get to you. People like that have no say," I said bluntly, squeezing Abel's hand.

"I'll remember that," he replied.

After the long, chilly walk, the four of us finally got to Noir Hall, and were welcomed by the warmth of Praxis' and my room.

Ethos, obviously tired, flopped onto Praxis' bed with a heavy sigh.

"At least take your shoes off, you slob," Praxis scolded playfully. Ethos groaned.

"I'm too lazy! Take them off for me if it bugs you so much." Chuckling, Praxis knelt down and slipped off Ethos' dress shoes, while Ethos simply laid there, grinning like an idiot.

As Abel sat down on the futon to take off his blazer and shoes, I spotted a brown rectangular package on Praxis' desk.

"Got something early for Christmas, Praxis?" I asked, gesturing to the box. Praxis turned to look at where I was gesturing.

"Oh, that! I almost forgot. It's actually for you."

"You got me something for Christmas?" I asked confusedly, raising an eyebrow. Sure, he and I were roommates, but we barely got along half of the time we were around each other, and I didn't think he would go out of his way to actually buy me something. However, my assumptions were disproved when he spoke up again.

"Not from me, stupid. It was in our mail. I think the label said it came from Moscow."

After he finished the sentence, I froze.

"No fucking way…" I muttered.

Not even bothering to take off my shoes or jacket, I strode over to the desk and snatched up the box. Sure enough, it was mailed from a Moscow address that I did not recognize. Sitting down in my own chair, I placed the box on my desk and grabbed my pocket knife off the shelf next to me. I took a deep breath and cut the tape that was stretched across the top, holding the flaps down.

There were two possible sources of the gift, and I was only willing to accept one of them. Before I got to the actual present, though, my hand slid over a piece of paper, which I realized to be an envelope. Sucking in my breath, I held it up, but there was nothing written on the outside except for my name in tilted, clear handwriting. Except it was not in English, but rather in Russian: my given name, "Каин". Frowning, I quickly tore the envelope open, wary of just exactly who it was from.

However, upon reading the first sentence, I already knew who it was from. I didn't even need to read any more of it.

"God damn it!" I cried out, cutting through the silence in the room. Praxis, Ethos, and Abel were probably all staring at me, I knew it, but I didn't look up. All I could do was stare down at the letter, my hands shaking and wrinkling the edges of the paper.

"...Cain? What's wrong?" exclaimed Abel, who I suddenly felt at my side. I didn't answer, though. Instead, I slammed the paper down onto the desk, grabbed a pack of cigarettes, and stormed out of the room. I heard them calling down the hall after me, but ignored them and soon rounded the corner and slammed open the door leading to the staircase. When I reached the ground floor, I burst out of the door and into the cold air again. As I walked around to the back of the building, I hastily pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply.

"_Fuck_!" I screamed on the exhale, angrily kicking a pinecone across the sidewalk.

Why did they have to fucking send me that? I hadn't gotten a gift from them since before my grandmother died and, quite frankly, didn't want any more. I did my best to erase myself simply because I didn't want them to be able to find me, but that obviously hadn't worked.

Soon after I sat down on the steps, and put my face in my hands, someone sat next to me. I growled slightly when they put a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Abel giving me a worried look.

"What the hell do you want?" I snapped.

"I just… I came to see if you were okay," he said, obviously startled by my sudden outburst. I let out a loud laugh and stood up.

"I'm fan-fucking-tastic! Peachy! Never fucking better! What do you fucking think, Abel?" I said, raising my voice with every word. "You think that little outburst back there was just for kicks so I could see the looks on all of your faces? Of course not! I am _pissed, _Abel. I literally feel like punching this brick wall so many times that my hand fucking falls off! Does that answer your question as to whether or not I am _fucking okay_?!"

After I had finished my rant, all Abel could do was stare up at me, his mouth agape. After a moment of silence, he furrowed his eyebrows, and stood up so that we were both at the same level.

"I understand you're mad, Cain," he responded, his voice sounding much firmer than before. "But what I'd like to know is why." I snorted, taking a drag from my cigarette.

"Like telling you would make any difference…" Abel gasped.

"You really think it wouldn't?" he said. "Cain, does anyone else know about… well, whatever it is you're dealing with?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Not telling."

"And why the fuck not?"

At this question, I could feel a headache coming on. _Shit…_ I thought to myself. Abel was getting too close. The things I had told Abel about my past were only known by one other person, and for a reason. I was terrified with what he would do with the information. I knew Abel was a good-natured person, but I had a bad history with good-natured people turning into back-stabbing fucktards.

"Because," I growled, turning away. He put a hand on my arm and spun me around. I glowered down at him. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Cain," he said in a low tone, "Why are you so upset about a Christmas present? Who was it from?"

"Who the fuck do you think it was from, Abel? My parents. You know, the ones who were too fucking preoccupied with their fucking jobs to even bother raising their _only fucking son_?" I shouted in response, annoyed at Abel's constant prying. His face instantly softened and I scoffed at him. "You're feeling sorry for me, right? Well don't. I don't need your pity."

"I'm not trying to pity you, it's just…"

"What?" I snarled.

"I'm just confused as to why they would send you something after so many years of being distant," he said.

"That makes two of us," I replied. "I mean, why do they even care now? Why the fuck couldn't they do this when I was a fucking kid? Back when it, you know, fucking _mattered_."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Cain. Why don't you find out?" Shuffling through his pants pocket, he pulled out a piece of folded up paper, which I realized was the letter.

"You better not have fucking read that," I threatened. After I finished saying it, though, I saw Abel's serious facial expression change to one of amusement.

"Cain," he started, fighting back a chuckle, "I don't know Russian." I snarled, realizing the stupidity of my comment, and snatched the paper out of his hand.

"I already read the fucking thing, Abel," I retorted. He shook his head.

"Not the whole thing. I saw you, and I at least know you well enough to know that you can't read an entire page that quick, even if it is in your first language. Now read the whole thing. I want to know what it says. And don't try using the excuse that you don't want to know, because I know some part of you does."

Growling, I glared down at the paper. It was dark outside, so the small writing was a bit hard to read, but there was a light directly above us, and at the correct angle, I managed to make out what it said. Speaking slowly as I translated, I read the letter aloud.

"'Dear Cain, we sincerely hope that this package reaches you before you come back for Christmas. Your mother especially wanted to see you in this when we next saw you, so we thought it would be alright to send it over to America, as an early gift. We really hope you will take up our offer to come home and share Christmas with us, since it has been so long. Your mother plans to make your favorite borscht that night! And on Christmas Day we are thinking of taking the train north to go and visit…'" I paused, my breath hitching a bit, "'...to go and visit your grandmother's grave. We miss you, and we're sure that your grandmother must miss you too, what with you being all the way over in America for school. Speaking of school, something has come up that we hope you will take advantage of. At first, we were going to wait until you got home to explain it to you, but we want you to have plenty of time to think about it. Your mother and I recently both got a big promotion, and our jobs are no longer as hectic as they used to be. In addition to this, we also are earning at least twice as much as we were earning before, and we would like you to…'" I trailed off, the blood draining from my face

"They want you to what?" Abel asked. I shook my head and handed him the letter back after I finished reading it in silence.

"Nothing, I just…" I sighed, not wanting to make him angry again. "I just want to be alone, right now."

"Okay," he said with a nod. "I'm going to go back upstairs."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, waving him off.

"Cain?" he asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"I'm here for you if you ever want to talk," he said before reaching up and kissing me on the cheek.

After he disappeared around the corner, I sat back down on the steps and put my head in my hands again. I didn't know how to handle any of this and I let my mind wander.

It was all so much to take in. I hadn't had any contact with my parents as a child, and yet there was always a present under the tree on Christmas from them. Those gifts were some of the only things that gave me hope that someday they would come home. However, as I got older, that hope dissipated and I started growing skeptical of the whole ordeal.

And my suspicions were confirmed after my grandmother died. The presents stopped coming, and my worst fears became reality: my parents didn't even give half a shit after all. I figured out that all they had been doing was sending money, which my grandmother would then use to buy a gift. It was then that I realized just what kind of people they were. I mean, they had the fucking audacity to have a son and never even see him? But if they were going to be that way, then I could just do the same thing to them. The last time I saw them was at the funeral, and I had done my best to speak to them as little as possible over the years since then.

I clenched my fists at the memories and did my best not to scream. After I had successfully calmed myself back down, I let out a long sigh and made my way back inside. I opened the door to find the lights had been shut off and what I assumed was Ethos and Praxis curled up in Praxis' bed watching something on his laptop.

"Where did Abel go?" I asked after realizing that he was no longer in the room.

"He went back to Beta. Said he was exhausted after tonight," Ethos said, looking up at me before cuddling further under the blankets. A small smirk spread across my face and I looked at the clock and saw that it was nearly three in the morning. I was surprised that he made it this far without passing out, but I had to give it to him for having stamina. However, a small part of me was hurt that he would rather go back to the frat house than sleep here with me. I pushed the feeling away and stripped down to my boxers and pulled on a pair of sweatpants before climbing into bed. As I lay there, I felt lonely. Really lonely. After about twenty minutes of tossing and turning, I growled and rolled back out of bed. I hastily threw on a shirt and shoes and grabbed a jacket.

"Ethos, I'm borrowing your keys," I said, snatching them off Praxis' desk and leaving before he could protest. I heard him faintly call out an 'okay' after I shut the door. Five minutes later, I let myself into the Beta Omega house and crept up the stairs. I quietly unlocked the door to Abel's room and stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

"S'that you, Ethos?" a sleepy voice asked. I chuckled.

"No, Princess," I replied, stripping down to my boxers. Abel sat up in bed and rubbed his face.

"What're you doin', Cain?" he asked sleepily, with a tinge of happiness in his voice. I shushed him and pulled back the covers before crawling into bed beside him.

"I couldn't sleep," I said, pulling him close to me. He nodded, smiling against my chest, and quickly went out like a light. I smiled and kissed the side of his head.

Even with Abel there, curled up next to me with a peaceful look on his face, my mind was racing too fast for me to fall asleep. There were just some things an angel couldn't protect you from, especially when he was the cause of them.


End file.
